Stocks dipped lower on Wednesday, paring most losses from earlier in the session, as Wall Street failed to maintain its two-day rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped over 40 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite both slipped about 0.2%.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.20% or -7.65 points to 3,783.28
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.14% or -42.45 points to 30,273.87
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.25% or -27.77 points to 11,148.64
Wednesday's moves follow a major rally earlier in the week, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest two-day gain since 2020, soaring over 5%. The Dow also added over 1,500 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 5.6% in the same period.
In economic news, U.S. private payrolls added 208,000 jobs in September, according to the ADP's monthly report, topping consensus economist expectations. Last month's print followed August's upwardly revised total of 185,000.
ADP's report comes two day before the "official" monthly jobs report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is expected to show a total of 250,000 positions added in September. The Federal Reserve has been keeping a close eye on the labor market as the central bank works to stabilize rapidly rising prices.
Separately, September's ISM services index registered a reading of 56.7%, indicating expansion for the month as gains in employment and orders coupled with a decline in prices help support growth for the U.S. economy.
Elsewhere, OPEC and its allies on Wednesday agreed to reduce production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November, marking the group's largest production cut since 2020. In response, international benchmark Brent crude futures (NYSE: BNO) rose about 1.1% to trade at $92.82 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (NYSE: USO) climbed almost 1% at $87.27 per barrel.
For stocks, shares of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) dipped on Wednesday after a Tuesday filing confirmed that Elon Musk agreed to buy the social media platform for $54.20 per share, the original price he had agreed upon for the acquisition.