Wednesday’s Stock Market Open: US Equities Rise Despite Slowdown In Private Payroll Growth, Oil Jumps

U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday despite a sharp slowdown in private payroll job growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 201.48 points to 27,029.95, while the S&P 500 gained 13.18 points to 3,319.69 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 6.4 points to 10,947.56.

ADP reported that private payrolls rose by only 167,000 in July -- far below the 1 million projected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones – and a massive plunge from the 4.314 million jobs created in June.

“The labor market recovery slowed in the month of July,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “We have seen the slowdown impact businesses across all sizes and sectors.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu will meet in the middle of August to discuss the status of the Phase One trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Meanwhile, the White House and senior Democrats continue to negotiate the next stimulus package.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of his meeting at the White House accompanied by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “We’re making progress. We really went down issue by issue by issue, slogging through them. They made some concessions, which we appreciated. We made some concessions, which they appreciated. We’re still far away on a lot of the important issues, but we’re continuing to go at it.”

“I think the expectation for the market is that we are going to get that stimulus,” Lindsay Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest, told CNBC. “There may be a few weeks of waiting while these folks don’t get their extra benefits or there may be uncertainty around evictions and that uncertainty could lead to some volatility.”

Padhraic Garvey, head of Americas research at ING Financial Markets, told Bloomberg: “Hopes of a fiscal package will indeed be instrumental in any improvement in risk sentiment.”

Overnight in Asia markets finished mixed, as China’s Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.17%; Japan’s Nikkei-225 slipped 0.26%; and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng exchange rose 0.62%.

In Europe markets traded higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 0.88%, while France’s CAC-40 rose 0.67% and Germany’s DAX climbed 0.35%.

Crude oil futures gained 4.08% at $43.40 per barrel, Brent crude rose 3.78% at $46.11. Gold futures jumped 1.73%.

The euro gained 0.72% at $1.1889 while the pound sterling rose 0.56% at $1.3144.