Wall Street was tilted higher in early trading after several companies reported strong quarterly earnings ahead of further updates on the labor market.
Wall Street was leaning higher before the open on Wednesday as several companies reported upbeat quarterly earnings ahead of further updates on the labor market.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1% before the close, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.
Investors are keeping their eye on corporate news and earnings reports while the market digests the latest employment data and awaits reports on the health of the services sector.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (the information technology company, not the PC and printer maker) rose 13.9% before the close after the company beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year profit outlook. Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike also beat analysts’ sales and profit targets, sending its shares up 8.8%.
Shares of Stitch Fix Inc., the online retailer of custom clothing, rose more than 17 percent in premarket trading after the company reported a smaller-than-expected loss on strong third-quarter sales.
Dollar Tree rose early after acknowledging it was considering selling Family Dollar stores, but quickly reversed course and was down 2.6% before the close.
Payroll company ADP said Wednesday that private employers added 152,000 jobs in May, below expectations and reflecting a “sharp decline” in manufacturing employment. The report could serve as a preview of the government’s more comprehensive May jobs report due on Friday. The labor market has held up better than most expected amid rising interest rates, but there are signs of softening. On Tuesday, the government reported the fewest job openings since 2021, at 8.1 million.
The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates since March 2022 to rein in a 40-year high of inflation that has taken hold as the U.S. economy quickly recovered from the pandemic-induced recession. The economy is finally starting to show signs of slowing, but recent data has been mixed, leading most analysts to expect the Fed to cut rates just once this year.
Also later on Wednesday, the ISM’s services sector report will be released, shedding light on the services sector, where the majority of Americans work.
In Europe, as of midday, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8%, Germany’s DAX surged 0.9%, and Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.
In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.9% to close at 38,490.17. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 7,769.00. South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.0% to 2,689.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to 18,424.96 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8% to 3,065.40.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 28 cents to $73.53 a barrel, while the international standard Brent crude added 30 cents to $77.82 a barrel.
In the foreign exchange market, the U.S. dollar rose to 156.18 yen from 154.84 yen, while the euro fell to 1.0862 dollars from 1.0883 dollars.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, but more stocks within the index fell than rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2%.
