By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stock indexes gained on Wednesday as technology-related shares rebounded and as U.S. private payrolls data was stronger than expected, while the dollar extended its gains from last week.
U.S. private payrolls rose by 42,000 jobs in October, exceeding expectations of a 28,000 gain, according to a Reuters poll of economists. However, some industries such as professional business services shed jobs for a third straight month.
The private payrolls data is being closely examined given the U.S. government shutdown and ongoing worries about weakness in the labor market. U.S. President Donald Trump again called for Republican senators to terminate the filibuster rule in a bid to end what is now the longest government shutdown in history.
An index of semiconductors was up 2.5% after falling sharply on Tuesday. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were up 0.5% after the company late Tuesday gave an upbeat revenue forecast.
“Today is a bit of a relief rally you might say,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“The ADP numbers… suggested that maybe if these numbers align with the official numbers – when they finally do come out – and that perhaps the fear over the jobs market may have been somewhat overstated,” he said.
Adding to optimism is the possibility of the U.S. federal government shutdown ending, he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59.92 points, or 0.12%, to 47,139.89, the S&P 500 rose 28.01 points, or 0.41%, to 6,799.59 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 149.16 points, or 0.64%, to 23,498.37.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.48 points, or 0.15%, to 998.31.The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.38%.
Asia stocks were hit hard overnight, pushing Japan’s Nikkei down nearly 7% from Tuesday’s record highs at one point, while shares in South Korea plunged as much as 6.2% before clawing back some losses to be down 2.9%.
Enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence has swept across stock markets worldwide this year, drawing comparisons to the dotcom bubble.
The dollar has firmed against the euro since last week when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points and Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a December cut was not a foregone conclusion.
The euro was down 0.04% at $1.1477. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.38% to 154.26.
Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin gained 3.25% to $103,565.86, after bouncing back from earlier losses. It slid 6.1% on Tuesday to below $99,000 for the first time since June 22.
U.S. Treasury yields turned higher after the economic data surprises showed continued economic resilience.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 5.4 basis points to 4.145%, from 4.091% late on Tuesday.
Gold prices rose. Spot gold rose 1.26% to $3,981.49 an ounce. U.S. crude fell 0.38% to $60.33 a barrel and Brent fell to $64.27 per barrel, down 0.26% on the day.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore; Editing by Peter Graff and Hugh Lawson)
