Stocks rose slightly higher Wednesday as rising tensions in the Middle East continued to impact sentiment on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite each settled above the flatline.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.01% or +0.79 points to 5,709.54
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.09% or +39.55 points to 42,196.52
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.08% or +14.76 points to 17,925.12
In Economic News:
Private Payrolls saw 143,000 additions in September, according to data from ADP on Wednesday, coming in ahead of expectations and above August's upwardly revised print of 103,000. However, the rate of pay growth declined to 4.7% for the month, down a 0.7 percentage point from August.
Job gains were widespread across the economy, with leisure and hospitality gaining 34,000, construction adding 26,000, education and health services were up 24,000, professional and business services rose 20,000 and other services increased by 17,000. Information services was the only category to post losses, down 10,000.
On the Earnings Front:
Nike (NYSE: NKE) shares were under pressure on Wednesday after the sneaker giant withdrew its full-year outlook and reschedule its investor day following its mixed fiscal first-quarter earnings results.
Last month, CEO John Donahoe announced he would be stepping down and will be replaced with longtime company veteran Elliott Hill on Oct. 14. Due to this leadership change, the company will withhold full-year guidance to provide "Elliot with the flexibility to reconnect with our employees and teams, evaluate the current strategies and business trends and develop our plans to best position the business for fiscal '26 and beyond," CFO Matthew Friend said during Nike's earnings call with analysts.
For its current quarter, Nike expects revenue to be down between 8% and 10% and gross margin to be down about 1.5 percentage points.
In the News:
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered a less-than-expected 462,890 vehicles in the third-quarter and total production rose 469,796 on Wednesday. In the year-ago period, Tesla reported 435,059 deliveries and produced 430,488 units.
Ford (NYSE: F) reported a 0.7% increase in third-quarter U.S. new vehicle sales on Wednesday, including a 12.2% rise in EVs year-over-year; the company delivered 67,689 EV units this year through September.
"Different lifestyles and use cases require unique types of power," said Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue and customer service, in a release. "We've listened to customers to offer them vehicles with powertrains to meet their specific needs, and their response validates our product strategy."
Humana (NYSE: HUM) shares dropped Wednesday after the healthcare company's preliminary 2025 Medicare Advantage data disappointed investors. In an 8-K filing, Humana reported that about 25% of its total members (1.6 million) are currently enrolled in plans rated 4 stars or high for next year, marking a decrease from 94% last year.
"Humana is exploring all available options to mitigate the expected 2026 revenue headwind related to its 2025 Star ratings in the event its challenges to the results are unsuccessful," the company said in the filing. "The 2025 Stars results are not expected to impact the Company's financial results or outlook for 2024 or 2025."
For Thursday:
Market participants will turn their attention towards U.S. services data for September on Thursday as they look ahead towards the month's "official" jobs report due out on Friday. Notable earnings reports include Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) and Levi Strauss (NYSE: LEVI).