US: S&P 500 rises to fresh record ahead of jobs data

[NEW YORK] US stocks shook off early weakness on Thursday before climbing, with the S&P 500 ending at a fresh record on hopes a slowing employment market will lead to lower interest rates.

“We’re in kind of a ‘bad news is good news’ type period where the market is looking for a (Federal Reserve) rate cut,” said Pat Donlon at Fiduciary Trust Company, who described Friday’s upcoming monthly jobs report as a key benchmark.

The market has priced in a September rate cut “but if you get higher than expected payroll numbers, that’s going to throw a wrench in that,” Donlon said.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished up 0.8 per cent at 6,502.08, narrowly topping its prior all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 per cent to 45,621.29, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.0 per cent to 21,707.69.

Futures markets shifted bets to expect a Fed rate cut following surprisingly poor monthly jobs data released in early August.

Data released Thursday by payrolls firm ADP showed private sector employment rose by 54,000 last month, down from a revised 106,000 in July and below analyst expectations.

Among individual companies, Salesforce fell 4.8 per cent on disappointment with the company’s revenue outlook.

Amazon rose 4.3 per cent as it announced that JetBlue Airways would be the first airline to use Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite network to power its in-flight Wi-Fi service. AFP