WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 moving back to the upside following the pullback seen during Tuesday's trading.
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 more than offset yesterday's losses, once again reaching new record closing highs.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 190.24 points or 0.9 percent to 20,393.13 and the S&P 500 climbed 29.41 points or 0.5 percent to 6,227.42, although the narrower Dow edged down 10.52 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,484.42.
The strength on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced that he has reached a trade deal with Vietnam.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the terms of the deal call for Vietnam to pay a 20 percent tariff on goods sent to the U.S. and a 40 percent tariff on any transshipping.
'In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,' Trump said.
He continued, 'In other words, they will 'OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,' meaning that, we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff.'
The news of the trade deal helped overshadow a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of June.
ADP said private sector employment fell by 33,000 jobs in June after rising by a downwardly revised 29,000 jobs in May.
Economists had expected private sector employment to increase by 95,000 jobs compared to the addition of 37,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
On Thursday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment, which includes both public and private sector jobs.
Economists currently expect employment to increase by 110,000 jobs in June after climbing by 139,000 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.
Sector News
Steel stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 4.3 percent to a seven-month closing high.
Considerable strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Energy, semiconductor and airline stocks also saw significant strength, while utilities and healthcare stocks bucked the uptrend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries saw further downside following the news of the trade deal with Vietnam. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.2 basis points to 4.293 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Thursday is likely to be driven by reaction to the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, although reports on weekly jobless claims, service sector activity and the U.S. trade deficit may also attract attention.
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