By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks inched higher Wednesday,
building slightly 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 10 points, or less
than 0.1%, to 16,966, while the S&P 500(SPX) nudged up 0.27
point to 1,973.59. The Nasdaq(RIXF) gained 1 point to 4,460.
The private sector added 281,000 jobs in June, beating
economists expectations for 215,000 new jobs. The ADP release
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. Read a MarketWatch First Take: This
changes everything... OK, nothing, but ADP still good sign
Government figures on factory orders for May also were released,
showing a 0.5% decline. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a
decrease of 0.4%.
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
2.6%, delivering one of the best performances among S&P 500
stocks after the distributor of Corona beer and Svedka vodka posted
better-than-expected quarterly results. Meanwhile, Rackspace
Hosting Inc. (RAX) jumped 5% following a report the cloud-services
company is thinking of going private.
In addition, GoPro Inc. (GPRO) slid 13%, putting the
video-camera maker's stock on track for its first daily loss since
debuting last week, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) fell 0.6%
following news late Tuesday that CEO 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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