S&P 500 nears record as private payroll soars

June 30 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 hovered near an all-time high on Wednesday as U.S. private sector payrolls rose in June even as hiring slowed, with leading Wall Street averages set to end their fifth consecutive quarter of earnings.

The ADP’s national employment report showed private payrolls increased by 692,000 jobs this month, up from 886,000 additions in May as companies rushed to get workers to respond to a hike in May. demand in a context of rapid reopening of the economy. Read more

The Labor Department’s more comprehensive and closely watched employment data for June is due on Friday, and market participants fear that a solid reading could force the US Federal Reserve to cut its ultra-accommodative monetary policy.

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report has disappointed over the past two months. A third disappointment would cement the fact that economic gains are starting to falter,” said John Brady, senior vice president of RJ O’Brien & Associates in Chicago. .

The prospect of a transient spike in inflation has pushed the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) and the Nasdaq (.IXIC) to record highs in recent sessions, aided by growth stocks returning to strong technological component.

The S&P Growth Index (.IGX), which includes the mega-cap names Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), jumped nearly 11.9% this quarter, outperforming its value counterpart (.IVX) and closing the gap for year-to-date performance.

The S&P 500 climbed around 14.3% in the first half and is expected to post its second best first half performance since 1998, along with energy, financials (.SPSY), real estate (.SPLRCR) and services communication (.SPLRCS). ) the stocks achieving the best performance at sector level.

“The second half of the year could definitely lead to increased volatility depending on Fed policy. Is the Fed going down? Is inflation going up?” Brady said.

At 9:55 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 52.81 points, or 0.15%, to 34,345.10, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was down 0.83 point, or 0.02%, to 4,290.97, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) lost 26.06 points, or 0.18%, to 14,502.28.

Six of the top 11 S&P indexes rose, with energy (.SPNY) leading the pact higher, following oil prices.

Micron Technology (MU.O) rose 1.1% as BMO improved the stock to “outperform” relative to “market performance” due to the persistent imbalance of supply and demand in 2022. The chipmaker is expected to release quarterly results after markets close.

Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE.N) fell 4.6% after BofA Global Research downgraded shares in billionaire Richard Branson’s spaceship company to “underperform” compared to “buy.”

Falling issues outnumbered advances for a 1-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.66-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P Index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 28 new highs and 21 new lows.

Reporting by Devik Jain and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Arun Koyyur

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