By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks mostly inched higher
Wednesday, building slightly on the prior day's sizeable advance,
as a better-than-expected report on private-sector hiring
underscored the economy's recent strength.
The Dow industrials(DJI) rose 20.17 points, or 0.1%, to end at
16,976.24, putting it once again within striking distance of
17,000, while the S&P 500(SPX) nudged up 1.30 points, or 0.1%,
to finish at 1,974.62. Each index scored a record close for the
second straight day.
The Nasdaq(RIXF) bucked Wednesday's positive trend, falling 0.92
point, or less than 0.1%, to close at 4,457.73. The tech-heavy
index snapped a three-session winning streak.
Investors are awaiting Thursday's monthly jobs report, and even
a surprisingly strong private-sector jobs report couldn't jolt the
market to life. Thursday's report is expected to show a net gain of
215,000 non-farm jobs and a steady 6.3% unemployment rate.
The ADP report, which showed 281,000 new private-sector jobs,
has "not been a good indicator" for the jobs report, but still "the
growth bulls will be pleased, and the "whisper numbers" for the
jobs report will probably rise, said Steven Ricchiuto, chief
economist at Mizuho Securities, in emailed comments. (Read more:
What the ADP report tells us
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-changes-every-ok-nothing-but-adp-still-good-sign-2014-07-02.)
In addition to Wednesday's economic data, investors took in
comments from Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and IMF Managing
Director Christine Lagarde, with at least one analyst seeing a
"slightly dovish" tone. The S&P 500 rose to a session high as
the full text of Yellen's speech came out, but then quickly pared
its gain.
Checkout MarketWatch's live blog of Wednesday's stock market
action
Among individual stocks, Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ) gained
2.3% after the distributor of Corona beer and Svedka vodka posted
better-than-expected quarterly results. Meanwhile, Rackspace
Hosting Inc. (RAX) jumped 6.7% following a report the
cloud-services company is thinking of going private.
On the downside, GoPro Inc. (GPRO) slid 13.9% for its first
daily loss since debuting last week. (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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