Stocks shake off weak start, end mostly higher
Stocks shook off early losses and managed to end mostly higher Wednesday on Wall Street, even as weakness in technology companies weighed on major U.S. indexes.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.2% Wednesday after trading lower for much of the day. The Nasdaq fell slightly and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.2%.
Treasury yields rose and crude oil prices ended higher.
The mixed trading came as investors become more optimistic that coronavirus vaccines could start driving a stronger recovery.
Stocks have been ramping higher in recent weeks as investors focus on the possibility that coronavirus vaccines could soon help usher in a fuller global economic recovery. Traders are also holding out hope that Democrats and Republicans may reach a deal on some amount of economic stimulus for the economy before 2021, though the parties remain divided on the details and the cost.
Unemployment remains high as the COVID-19 outbreak widens the gulf between average people and the wealthiest Americans. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that its latest survey of private U.S. employers shows they added 307,000 jobs last month. That fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations for a gain of 405,000 jobs, according to FactSet.
The report precedes a broader jobs survey from the Labor Department due out Friday. Economists are forecasting that will show employers added about 441,000 jobs in November, down from a gain of 638,000 in October.
“It’s a pretty big miss, so it may have people a little spooked about what Friday may look like,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to approve COVID-19 relief funds without further delay. President-elect Joe Biden has also called on lawmakers to pass immediate pandemic relief funding.
“Most stakeholders seem fairly willing to wait until the runoff elections in Georgia, until Biden formally enters the White House, and then maybe look at a stimulus package in January,” Mayfield said. “The problem is, by that point you’re going to have six to 10 more weeks of economic damage.”
Technolog y st ock s, which have been leading the market higher since the pandemic star ted, were the biggest drag on the market Wednesday. Salesforce.com fell 8.8% after announcing a deal late Tuesday to buy messaging platform Slack for $27.7 billion. Microsoft fell 0.6%.
Pfizer shares rose 3% after the drugmaker and BioNTech said they won permission for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in Britain. The vaccine is the world’s first coronavirus shot that’s backed by rigorous science and a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic.