Investing.com - Stocks opened higher in New York Wednesday, as more encouraging employment numbers arrived and some of the worries about Italy’s budget impact on the EU abated.
The Dow rose 115.69, or 0.43%, to 26,889.63, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 10.59, or 0.36%, to 2,934.02. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 30.15, or 0.38%, to 8,029.70.
The ADP private sector jobs report for September showed a better-than-expected rise in payrolls of 230,000.
Usually, strong jobs data spark inflation worries, but there is not much concern that the Federal Reserve will feel a sense of urgency to boost rates, having laid out its plans for gradual hikes. A hike in December is already widely expected.
The ISM measure of services activity for September arrives shortly after the start of trading.
Meanwhile, worries about an EU showdown were tempered on reports that Italy’s populist government may lower budget-deficit targets.
Financial stocks were resilient with a rise in Treasury yields. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) all gained ground at the start of trading.
In tech, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 1% after CEO Tim Cook assured Apple users about the company’s commitment to privacy in an interview.
Among other active stocks, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 0.2% on reports that 21st Century Fox’s James Murdoch had been mooted to replace Elon Musk as chairman.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) jumped 4% on an autonomous car partnership with Honda.
And homebuilder Lennar (NYSE:LEN) slipped 1% despite solid earnings.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX fell 0.4%, while in France the CAC 40 climbed 0.6% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slumped 0.7%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,208.20 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures lost 0.4% to $74.92 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.08% to 95.58.