By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Wall Street surged again at the opening on Wednesday, as strong U.S. economic numbers and speculative reports of progress in fighting the coronavirus combined to revive optimism.
By 10:20 AM ET (1120 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 269 points or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite, which opened at a record high, was up 0.4% and the S&P 500 was up 0.8%.
Sentiment was helped by a private payrolls survey by ADP which showed the U.S. private sector added more jobs in January than in any month since May 2015. The reports sets the scene for the broader labor market report from the Commerce Department on Friday.
Additionally, the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager index rose by more than expected in January to 60.9, defying expectations of a fall to 56.5 and hitting its highest level since September.
Among individual stocks, however, the biggest mover was Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock, which gave up some of its stellar gains of the week so far as more opinion shifted to the view that it is overbought. Tesla stock fell 12.8%, but was still up 34% on the week.
Another big faller was Snap (NYSE:SNAP), the parent of social media network Snapchat, which fell 9.4% after reporting a wider net loss for the last quarter as a 16% annual rise in users failed to generate an equivalent amount in revenue.
Among the gainers, Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) rose 2.4% on continued speculation on a boom in remote working due to the coronavirus. It’s gained 19% this week so far.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) struggled to make it over the gain line, losing 0.9% after warning that operating profit would take a hit this quarter from the closure of its theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) rose 0.6% after reporting a net loss for the quarter that was narrower than expected after a six-week strike at the end of last year, but Ford Motor (NYSE:F) lost 7.4% after falling short of expectations and giving gloomy guidance for the year after the closing bell on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures rebounded nearly 4% to $51.56 a barrel, while gold futures edged up 0.2% to $1,558.05 an ounce. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, surged 0.3% higher to its highest in over two months at 98.11.