US markets end higher amid continued optimism about rate cut

04 Dec 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as fall in private sector employment added to recently renewed optimism of interest rate cut by Federal Reserve (Fed) at its monetary policy meeting next week. The payroll processor ADP released a report showing an unexpected decrease by private sector employment in the month of November. ADP said private sector employment fell by 32,000 jobs in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 47,000 jobs in October. Meanwhile, street had expected private sector employment to inch up by 10,000 jobs compared to the addition of 42,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. However, traders remained cautious after Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released a report showing an unexpected increase by its reading on service sector activity. The ISM said its services PMI inched up to 52.6 in November after climbing to 52.4 in October, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Meanwhile, street had expected the index to edge down to 52.1.

On the sectoral front, oil service stocks moved sharply higher amid a rebound by the price of crude oil, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 3.7 percent to a ten-month closing high. Substantial strength was also visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index surging by 2.7 percent to its best closing level in almost three months.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 408.44 points or 0.86 percent to 47,882.90, S&P 500 climbed 20.35 points or 0.3 percent to 6,849.72 and Nasdaq rose 40.42 points or 0.17 percent to 23,454.09.

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