US close: Stocks carve out small gains following strong ADP report
US stocks managed to carve out some gains on Wednesday, boosted by the release of a much stronger-than-expected reading on the health of the US jobs market and news of a final arrangement to a trilateral agreement with Canada
At the close, the Dow Jones had ended the session 0.20% higher at 26,828.39, while the S&P 500 finished 0.07% stronger at 2,925.51 and the Nasdaq saw a 0.32% improvement to 8,025.09.
The Dow Jones turned in another new closing high - its 15th in 2018 - and is now nearing its next milestone, the 27,000 mark. Leading sectors throughout the day were financial, energy, industrial and technology.
TD Securities said: "Market sentiment faded into the close, leaving US equities little changed after strong economic data saw 10yr Treasury yields trade through the highs from May."
On the data front, private sector payrolls in the States jumped by 230,000 last month, according to ADP, easily beating economists' forecasts for an increase of 184,000.
Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson said: "We expected to see a small hit from Hurricane Florence, but instead this is the best ADP reading since February. It’s consistent with all the very strong surveys, including the ISMs, JOLTS and NFIB hiring intentions, but it probably overstates the official data.
"In months hit by both severe winter storms or hurricanes, ADP consistently is stronger than the official number. Still, the strength of ADP forces us to lift our estimate for Friday to 150K; the consensus is 185K but that likely will rise after this report."
Elsewhere, business activity in the non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in September than it had in the previous month, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
ISM's headline PMI improved to 61.6 from 58.5 - surpassing Wall Street estimates of a reading of 58.
Speaking shortly after the close, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said the US economy had a "remarkable positive outlook" and that he felt the nation was on the verge of a "historically rare" era of ultra-low unemployment and subdued prices.
"This forecast is not too good to be true," said Powell.
"These developments amount to a better world for households and businesses which no longer experience or even fear the scourge of high and volatile inflation."
On the corporate front, eBay shares picked up 0.58% after it issued a cease-and-desist letter to Amazon wherein it alleged its rival had been attempting to poach its sellers. Amazon ended the day down 0.94%.
Acuity Brands fell 13.17% as 'well higher input costs took much of the shine off of its earnings beat, while VistaGen shares soared 37.5% after the FDA granted fast-track status to its non-opioid pain treatment.
Tilray shot up 13.51% despite PepsiCo announcing it had no plans to invest in the marijuana firm and Synnex gained 1.32% after it revealed that it intended to acquire Convergys.
Pier 1 shares picked up 2.67% throughout the session despite reporting a second-quarter earnings miss, while Barnes and Noble ended the day 1.62% lower after revealing it had become a potential takeover target.