Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Wednesday’s Wall Street trading session was that oil and stocks managed to rise at the same time, in stark contrast to recent months that saw sharp stock market declines on rising oil prices.
A much better than expected ADP private sector employment report helped brighten investors’ moods — and raised hopes that the government’s non-farm payrolls report on Friday will follow suit.
ADP reported a surprise gain of 9,000 private sector jobs for July, much better than economists’ expectations for a loss of 60,000 jobs. Up next: the government’s first look at second-quarter GDP due out Thursday morning. Expectations are for 2.3% growth for the second quarter.
Also boosting stocks Wednesday was news that the Federal Reserve extended its emergency funding provisions into January.
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was a big winner for the tech sector, gaining 4.6% after reporting 11% sales growth.
RF Micro (NASDAQ: RFMD) did even better, surging 17% after it beat estimates with 14% revenue growth.
Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) jumped 8% despite posting mixed results, as the company forecast better times ahead. The results boosted shares of chip equipment makers.
Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN), Kemet (NYSE: KEM), Silicon Motion (NASDAQ: SIMO), Actel (NASDAQ: ACTL) and Ultimate Software (NASDAQ: ULTI) plunged on their results, while Corning (NYSE: GLW) and IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) also lost ground on their earnings reports.
The Nasdaq rose 10 to 2329, the S&P gained 21 to 1284, and the Dow surged 186 to 11,583. Volume rose to 5.64 billion shares on the NYSE, and declined to 2.28 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 23-11 margin on the NYSE, and 16-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 71% on the NYSE, and 58% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 52-114 on the NYSE, and 68-111 on the Nasdaq.
