U.S. Stocks Remain Mostly Positive In Afternoon Trading

(RTTNews) - Following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session, stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. With the upward move on the day, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has reached a new record intraday high.

Currently, the major averages are all in positive territory, although the Dow is up just 3.50 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 35,364.23. The Nasdaq is up 115.69 points or 0.8 percent at 15,374.93 and the S&P 500 is up 13.09 points or 0.3 percent at 4,535.77.

The strength on Wall Street comes after the major averages ended the previous session slightly lower, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 edging down off from Monday's record closing highs.

Trading activity remains relatively light, however, as traders continue to look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to jump by 750,000 jobs in August after surging by 943,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a report from payroll processor ADP showing much weaker than expected private sector job growth in the month of August.

ADP said private sector employment climbed by 374,000 jobs in August after rising by a downwardly revised 326,000 jobs in July.

Economists had expected employment to jump by 613,000 jobs compared to the addition of 330,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

"The Delta variant of COVID-19 appears to have dented the job market recovery," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "Job growth remains strong, but well off the pace of recent months."

A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly grew at a slightly faster rate in the month of August.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI inched up to 59.9 in August from 59.5 in July, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. The uptick surprised economists, who had expected the index to dip to 58.6.

Sector News

Commercial real estate stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index up 1.6 percent to a record intraday high.

Notable strength has also emerged among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones Utilities Average.

On the other hand, oil stocks are seeing significant weakness amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil, with the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 1.5 percent.

Considerable weakness is also visible among banking stocks, resulting in a 1.2 percent drop by the KBW Bank Index.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Most European stocks also moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 1.309 percent.