Nasdaq fails to end in the green though
U.S. stocks mostly inched higher on Wednesday, 02 July 2014 as a better-than-expected report on private-sector hiring underscored the economy's recent strength. The stock market spent the Wednesday session in a narrow range. The major averages climbed out of the gate, but the early strength was short-lived as only a handful of sectors were able to distance themselves from their flat lines. The lack of concerted sector leadership caused the key indices to return to their flat lines, where they remained into the close.
The Dow industrials rose 20.17 points, or 0.1%, to end at 16,976.24. The S&P 500 nudged up 1.30 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 1,974.62. The Nasdaq bucked Wednesday's positive trend, falling 0.92 point, or less than 0.1%, to close at 4,457.73.
One sector that displayed notable strength throughout the session was yesterday's leaderhealth care.
It's a holiday-shortened trading week in the U.S., what with the Independence Day holiday on Friday. The key U.S. jobs report is issued a day early this month, on Thursday. This report is arguably the most important U.S. economic data of the month. The stronger ADP jobs report sets the table for an upbeat reading for the Labor Department's employment report on Thursday morning. The non-farm payroll employment figure of that report is forecast to come in at up 215,000 in June. Also on Thursday will be the monthly monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank. No changes in ECB monetary policy are expected. It will be an extra important trading day on Thursday.
In overnight trading, Asian and European stock markets followed the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday, despite some more downbeat economic data from the European Union and China. The EU's producer prices fell 0.1% in May from April, and were down 1.0% on the year.
Economic data for the day included included May Factory Orders, June ADP Employment, and the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. Factory orders declined 0.5% in May after increasing an upwardly revised 0.8% (from 0.7%) in April. The consensus expected a decline of 0.4%. The revisions to the May durable goods data were extremely minor. Total orders were revised up from the advance (-1.0%), but still fell 0.9%. These orders increased 0.9% in May
According to the ADP National Employment Report, employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 281,000 in June. That was well above the increase of 200K expected by the consensus. The May reading was left unrevised at 179,000. The weekly MBA Mortgage Index slipped 0.2% to follow last week's 1.0% decline.
Gold and silver gave up some of their gains, but still ended the session higher on Wednesday, 02 July 2014 at Comex. Gold futures on Wednesday found some support, as traders stretched the metal's price advance to a fourth session in a row, reluctant to sell the precious metal ahead of Thursday's much-anticipated monthly U.S. jobs report and a long holiday weekend.
August gold futures tacked on $4.30, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,330.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices tallied a gain of nearly $10 an ounce over the past three trading sessions. September silver also rose 18.5 cents, or 0.9%, to end at $21.30 an ounce.
Crude oil futures closed back below $105 a barrel for the fifth straight loss on Wednesday, 02 July 2014, as Libyan rebels agreed to allow two oil terminals to reopen and the U.S. dollar strengthened. Prices had pared losses earlier Wednesday immediately after a weekly U.S. government report showed a steeper-than-expected drop in crude supplies.
At Nymex, crude oil for August delivery fell 86 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $104.48 a barrel. They were trading at around $104.65 before the supply data were released then rebounded to trade above $105.40 after them.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles fell 3.2 million barrels for the week ended 27 June 2014. Market had forecast a decline of 2 million barrels. The EIA also reported that weekly gasoline supplies declined by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by 1 million barrels.
Participation was well below average with less than 585 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.
Tomorrow, the Challenger Job Cuts report for June will be released at 7:30 ET, while weekly initial claims (consensus 315K), June Nonfarm Payrolls (210K), and May Trade Balance (consensus -$45.20 billion) will all be released at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the June ISM Services report (expected 56.5).
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
