Wall Street bounced back Wednesday after Tuesday's sharp selloff in AI-driven stocks, as investors bought the dip amid solid corporate earnings and growing signs that the Federal Reserve may be nearing another interest rate cut.
The ADP National Employment Report — the key labor gauge in the absence of official government data during the ongoing shutdown — showed that private employers added 42,000 jobs in October, rebounding from the 32,000 jobs lost in September and beating economists’ expectations for a 25,000 gain.
While the uptick signals some resilience, the pace of hiring remains far below robust levels, underscoring continued cooling in the labor market and reinforcing market bets on a Fed rate cut in December.
By midday in New York, the S&P 500 was up 0.9%, the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1% after Tuesday's 2.2% drop, and small caps led the charge with the Russell 2000 gaining 1.7%.
Among mega-cap movers, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) extended its post-earnings rally into a fifth straight session, with shares reaching their highest levels since September 2024.
In the tech sector, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) impressed investors with stronger-than-expected results, sending its shares up 2.5% and easing fears of a "sell-the-news" reaction that hit Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) a day earlier.
Crypto markets also rebounded after two days of steep losses that pushed Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) below $100,000. The largest digital currency rallied 2.5% to trade near $104,000, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) each gained about 4.4%.
In commodities, gold climbed 1.8% to $3,970 per ounce, silver added 2% to trade above $48, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $59 a barrel.
Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day % |
| Russell 2000 | 2,467.61 | 1.7% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 25,727.63 | 1.1% |
| S&P 500 | 6,834.55 | 0.9% |
| Dow Jones | 47,461.32 | 0.8% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.7% to $625.49.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.6% to 473.74.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1% to $625.12.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 1.6% to $244.76.
- The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, up 1.1%; the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) lagged, up 0.2%.
Wednesday’s Stock Movers On Earnings Reports
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. up 2.3%
- McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) up 2.2%
- Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE:ANET) down 7.5%
- Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) up 7.8%
- Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) down 3.0%
- Cencora Inc. (NYSE:COR) up 2.5%
- Sempra (NYSE:SRE) up 1.7%
- Aflac Inc. (NYSE:AFL) up 3.4%
- Coupang Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) down 6.6%
- Axon Enterprise Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) down 9.8%
- Corteva Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) up 2.7%
- American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) down 3.5%
- Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) up 6.6%
- Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE:FIS) up 1.2%
- Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:LYV) down 7.5%
- Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) down 8.1%
- Astera Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) up 0.2%
- Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE:IRM) down 4.6%
- Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) down 0.9%
- Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) down 8.8%
- Royalty Pharma plc (NASDAQ:RPRX) up 6.5%
- Toast Inc. (NYSE:TOST) up 10.0%
- Bunge Global SA (NYSE:BG) up 4.8%
- Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ZBH) down 13.6%
- Pinterest Inc. (NYSE:PINS) down 21.1%
- Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) up 11.6%
- Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) up 26.6%
- International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) up 6.2%
- Performance Food Group Co. (NYSE:PFGC) up 1.4%
- Equitable Holdings Inc. (NYSE:EQH) down 3.3%
- Dynatrace Inc. (NYSE:DT) down 5.7%
Stocks slated to report earnings after the close include QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ:APP), Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD), McKesson Corp. (NYSE:MCK), DoorDash Inc. (NASDAQ:DASH), CRH plc (NYSE:CRH), Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), The Allstate Corp. (NYSE:ALL), MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET), Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE:FICO), Atmos Energy Corp. (NYSE:ATO), HubSpot Inc. (NYSE:HUBS), PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC), STERIS plc (NYSE:STE), Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE:DVN), Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR), Talen Energy Corp. (NYSE:TLN), Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR), Corpay Inc. (NYSE:CPAY), Texas Pacific Land Corp. (NYSE:TPL), Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD), CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CF), TKO Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TKO), Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:ALB), Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST), Revolution Medicines Inc. (NASDAQ:RVMD), Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL), The AES Corp. (NYSE:AES), MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI), Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE:PAYC), Primerica Inc. (NYSE:PRI), Permian Resources Corp. (NYSE:PR), and Penumbra Inc. (NYSE:PEN).
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