By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks stepped slightly higher
Wednesday, building on the prior day's record-setting advance, as a
better-than-expected report on private-sector hiring underscored
the economy's recent strength.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average could once again test 17,000
after coming within two points of that milestone intraday Tuesday,
when the blue-chip index and S&P 500 both achieved all-time
closing highs.
On Wednesday, the Dow industrials(DJI) rose 5.40 points, or less
than 0.1%, to 16,961.47, while the S&P 500(SPX) nudged up 0.91
point, or less than 0.1%, to 1,974.23. The Nasdaq(RIXF) gained 2.91
points, also less than 0.1%, to 4,461.56.
The private sector added 281,000 jobs in June, according to the
ADP report, beating economists expectations for 215,000 new jobs.
The report presages the government's closely watched monthly jobs
report, which will be released Thursday -- a day earlier than usual
because of the July 4th holiday on Friday.
The ADP report has "not been a good indicator" for the jobs
report, but still "the growth bulls will be pleased and the whisper
numbers on payroll will probably rise as the day moves forward,"
said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities, in
emailed comments Wednesday
At 10 a.m. Eastern, government figures on factory orders for May
are due. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect a 0.4% decline in
orders after a 0.7% gain in April.
In addition to Wednesday's economic data, investors will be
watching Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen. The central banker
will deliver a lecture at the International Monetary Fund's
headquarters in Washington at 11 a.m. Eastern, then sit down in
conversation with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Given
"the IMF and Ms. Lagarde's view of U.S. policy, this conversation
could take a notably dovish turn," said Marshall Gittler, head of
global FX strategy at IronFX Global, in a note Wednesday.
Among individual stocks, Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ) gained
7% after the distributor of Corona beer and Svedka vodka posted
better-than-expected quarterly profit and sales.
Rackspace Hosting Inc. (RAX) jumped 7% following a report the
cloud-services company is thinking of going private. Meanwhile,
GoPro Inc. (GPRO) dropped 5%, putting the video-camera maker's
stock on track for its first daily loss since debuting last
week.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) fell 0.6% following news late
Tuesday that Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has "curable" throat
cancer.
(Read more in MarketWatch's Movers & Shakers column
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jp-morgan-constellation-brands-paychex-are-stocks-to-watch-2014-07-02.)
In other markets, August oil (CLQ4) fell, while gold futures
(GCQ4) edged up. Stocks in Asia finished higher, including a 0.3%
rise of Japan's Nikkei Average , and the Stoxx Europe 600 extended
gains from Tuesday when it notched its strongest performance in two
months.
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