S&P 500, Nasdaq climb on tech boost, investors take labor data in stride

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained on Wednesday, with the benchmark index at record highs, as technology stocks extended their rally from the previous session, while investors shrugged the latest labor market reports.

Technology stocks on the S&P 500 (.SPLRCT), were the biggest boosts, up 0.7%. Microsoft (MSFT.O), was up 2%, while Nvidia (NVDA.O), and Broadcom (AVGO.O), added 1.5% each.

On the flip side, big banks slipped after rallying for the last three sessions, with Bank of America (BAC.N), down 2.2% and Goldman Sachs (GS.N), off 0.8%.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), slipped 2.5% after Wolfe Research downgraded the bank to “peer perform” from “outperform”.

The banking sector put pressure on the blue-chip Dow, which had hit an intraday record high earlier in the session. It is now about 1.3% away from a historic 50,000 level and the S&P 500 about 0.6% from the 7,000 peak.

At 11:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 85.82 points, or 0.17%, to 49,376.26, the S&P 500 (.SPX), gained 13.22 points, or 0.19%, to 6,958.04 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), gained 139.73 points, or 0.59%, to 23,686.90.

Data on Wednesday showed U.S. job openings fell more than expected in November after rising marginally in October, while a separate ADP report showed that private payrolls increased less than expected in December.

“If you get weaker economic news, you don’t believe the Fed is going to cut interest rates and the market has rallied, you’re like should I have been chasing the market or should I take some profit,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

“The economic news sort of fueled a little bit of profit taking.”

Although, the latest labor market datasets mark a return to the standard release of economic data disrupted by the U.S. government shutdown, they did little to change expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

The spotlight will remain on Friday’s nonfarm payrolls for December.

Markets will also keep an eye on geopolitical developments, after the U.S. said it had seized a Russian-flagged, Venezuela-linked tanker as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to dictate oil flows in the Americas and force Caracas’ socialist government to become its ally.

The White House said on Tuesday that Trump is discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the U.S. military.

Among other stocks, Eli Lilly (LLY.N), jumped 4%. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the heavyweight drugmaker was in advanced talks to buy Ventyx Biosciences (VTYX.O), for more than $1 billion.

The S&P 500 healthcare sector (.SPXHC), extended Tuesday’s gains by 1.1%.

Memory chipmakers that had surged in the previous session on the prospect of chip shortages leading to price increases eased. SanDisk (SNDK.O), and Western Digital (WDC.O), fell 1.2% and 9.7% after climbing 27.5% and 10%, respectively, on Tuesday.

First Solar (FSLR.O), fell 9.7% after Jefferies downgraded the solar panel maker’s rating to “hold” from “buy”.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.43-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 81 new highs and 45 new lows.