US markets end higher on Wednesday

31 Aug 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday following the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing a notable slowdown in the pace of private sector job growth in the month of August. ADP said private sector employment climbed by 177,000 jobs in August after surging by an upwardly revised 371,000 jobs in July. Street had expected private sector employment to advance by 195,000 jobs compared to the jump of 324,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The slightly smaller than expected increase in private sector employment added to recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates. Meanwhile, pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly increased in the month of July, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed in a report released.

NAR said its pending home sales index climbed by 0.9 percent to 77.6 in July after rising by 0.4 percent to a revised 76.9 in June. Street had expected pending home sales to decrease by 0.6 percent compared to the 0.3 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month. Pending home sales increased for the second consecutive month but were still down by 14.0 percent compared to the same month a year ago. On the sectoral front, housing stocks saw considerable strength on the day, resulting in a 1.2 percent advance by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The strength in the sector came after the National Association of Realtors released a report showing an unexpected increase in pending home sales in the month of July.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.57 points or 0.11 percent to 34,890.24, Nasdaq surged 75.55 points or 0.54 percent to 14,019.31 and S&P 500 was up by 17.24 points or 0.38 percent to 4,514.87.


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