Wall Street keeps rallying

NEW YORK—Wall Street's big rally keeps rolling, and the S&P 500 rose for a fourth straight day Wednesday to sit just 1.7% below its record.

The S&P 500 climbed 21.26 points, or 0.6%, to 3,327.77, echoing gains for stocks across Europe and Asia. If the U.S. market has just a few more days like that, it will erase the last of the historic losses it's taken since February because of the coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 373.05, or 1.4%, to 27,201.52, and the Nasdaq composite added 57.23, or 0.5%, to set another record at 10,998.40.

Much of Wall Street's focus this week has been on Washington, where Congress and White House officials are negotiating on more aid for an economy that's shown some improvement but is still hobbling. Investors say such a package is crucial and needs to arrive quickly, with millions of Americans still out of work and $600 in weekly unemployment benefits from the U.S. government having recently expired.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said late Tuesday that the two sides set a goal of reaching an agreement by the end of the week to permit a vote next week, though negotiators said the two sides remain far apart on key issues.

The pressure on Washington to act quickly is mounting. A report on Wednesday suggested that hiring was far weaker last month than economists expected. Private employers added just 167,000 jobs, according to a survey by payroll processor ADP, well below the 1.2 million that economists had forecast.

It highlights the damage that a resurgence in coronavirus cases across much of the country is doing to the economy.