Wall Street’s main stock indexes rose on Wednesday, with strong support from the healthcare sector, despite weaker-than-expected private payrolls data and uncertainty around the first day of the U.S. federal government shutdown. With the Labor Department’s September jobs report expected to be postponed if the government has not reopened by Friday, investors were paying close attention to the ADP National Employment Report. ADP showed a decline in private payrolls of 32,000 and a downwardly revised 3,000 decline in August. These numbers were weaker than economist forecasts for growth of 50,000 in September and the prior report of a 54,000 advance in August.
Elsewhere in economic data, the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. manufacturing edged toward recovery in September.
After opening lower, all three main U.S. indexes advanced. Among the S&P 500’s 11 major industry sectors, the biggest gainer was S&P 500 healthcare .SPXHC , boosted by pharmaceutical companies. The healthcare rally had started in earnest on Tuesday after Pfizer PFE.N and the U.S. President said they had cut a deal. The drugmaker agreed to lower prescription drug prices in the Medicaid program – compared to its charges in other developed countries – in exchange for tariff relief. Trump said he expected more drug companies to follow suit.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 22.46 points, or 0.34%, to end at 6,710.92 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 94.02 points, or 0.42%, to 22,754.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 42.04 points, or 0.09%, to 46,439.93. The S&P 500 tech .SPLRCT sector provided another big boost for the benchmark index. The sector with the biggest percentage decline during the session was materials .SPLRCM .
In individual stocks, a strong rally in shares of AES AES.N boosted the S&P 500 utilities sector .SPLRCU after the Financial Times reported that BlackRock-owned BLK.N Global Infrastructure Partners was nearing a $38-billion deal to acquire the utility group. While the materials sector was broadly weaker, Lithium Americas Corp LAC.TO LAC.N U.S. shares rallied sharply and rival Albemarle ALB.N also rose after the U.S. Department of Energy has taken a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and a separate 5% stake in the company’s joint venture with General Motors < GM.N>. Corteva CTVA.N said it would separate its seed and pesticide businesses into separate publicly traded companies, sending its shares down sharply.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew and Stephen Culp in New York, Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Ros Russell and Pooja Desai and David Gregorio.
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