NEW YORK (AP) — Another drift higher for U.S. stocks on Wednesday is pushing Wall Street even closer to its record following its big recent rally.
The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in early trading and pulled within 2.5% of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 94 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise helped lead the way and rose 4.1% after delivering a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Wells Fargo rose 2.8% after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday lifted restrictions placed on the bank in 2018 for having a toxic sales and banking culture. Wells Fargo has spent the better part of a decade trying to restore its image with the public and convince policymakers that it had changed its ways.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields fell after a report suggested U.S. employers outside of the government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected. The report from ADP said private employers hired just 37,000 more workers than they fired, down from the prior month’s 60,000.
That could bode ill for Friday’s more comprehensive jobs report coming from the U.S. Labor Department, which is one of Wall Street’s most anticipated data releases each month. So far, the U.S. job market has remained remarkably resilient despite years of high inflation and now the threat of President Donald Trump’s high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the economy.
To be sure, ADP’s report historically has not been a perfect predictor of what the U.S. Labor Department’s report will say.
“Whether this report is accurate or not, traders and investors will read today’s number as a dark result for trading today,” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “This may be the tip of an iceberg, but it also could be a false start.”
Following the report, traders built up expectations that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates later this year in order to prop up the economy, which in turn caused the fall for Treasury yields. The weaker-than-expected report also pushed Trump to call on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver cuts to rates more quickly.
“‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “He is unbelievable!!! Europe has lowered NINE TIMES!”
The Fed, though, has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them through the end of last year. Part of the reason is that the Fed wants to see how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. While lower interest rates could boost the economy, they could also give inflation more fuel.
