Stocks climbed higher Wednesday as investors digested fresh economic data and look ahead toward's the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and August's jobs report later this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 40 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose roughly 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Driving the session's moves, ADP's private payrolls report showed slower-than-expected job growth in August, providing another sign that the strong labor market is beginning to cool in response to higher interest rates. U.S. private employers added 177,000 jobs in August, far below July's revised print of 371,000.
"This month's numbers are consistent with the pace of job creation before the pandemic," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a press release. "After two years of exceptional gains tied to the recovery, we're moving toward more sustainable growth in pay and employment as the economic effects of the pandemic recede."
ADP's report comes before the Labor Department's "official" jobs report due out Friday morning. Economists expect non-farm payrolls to grow by 170,000 in August, near on par with ADP's report.
In other economic news, U.S. second-quarter GDP was revised lower on Wednesday, expanding by an estimated 2.1% annual clip -- slightly below the preliminary 2.4% estimate.
On the earnings front, HP
"Weak printer shipments may impact supplies growth in the medium term, HPQ's margins remain above pre-pandemic levels, and we worry about the structural health of the printing business and its ability to grow over time," the analysts wrote in a note, quoted by CNBC.
In single-stock news, Google
Lyft
For Thursday, market participants will react to July's personal consumption expenditures index, which is one of the Fed's preferred inflation gauges, as well as earnings reports from companies including Salesforce