NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. stocks ticked higher to hit another record. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Wednesday and set an all-time high for the third time in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down by less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%. Tesla rallied following its latest update on deliveries, while Nike and other companies that import a lot from Vietnam rose after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the country. Shorter-term Treasury yields held steady ahead of a highly anticipated report coming on Thursday about the strength of the U.S job market. <\/p>\n
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP\u2019s earlier story follows below.<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. stock indexes are drifting higher on Wednesday, ahead of a highly anticipated report about how the U.S. job market is holding up amid uncertainty about President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a>. <\/p>\n The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in afternoon trading and on track to set a record<\/a> for the third time in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50 points, or 0.1%, as of 1:49 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.<\/p>\n Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market ahead of Thursday\u2019s report, which will show how many jobs U.S. employers created and destroyed last month. The widespread expectation is that they hired more people than they fired but that the pace of hiring slowed from May. <\/p>\n A stunningly weak report released Wednesday morning, though, raised worries that Thursday\u2019s report may fall short. The data from ADP suggested that U.S. employers outside the government cut 33,000 jobs from their payrolls last month, when economists were expecting to see growth of 115,000 jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cThough layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month,\u201d according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.<\/p>\n The ADP report does not have a perfect track record predicting what the U.S. government\u2019s more comprehensive jobs report will say each month. That preserves some hope that Thursday\u2019s data could be more encouraging. But a fear has been that uncertainty around Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a> could cause employers to freeze their hiring. <\/p>\n Many of Trump\u2019s stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, and they\u2019re scheduled to kick into effect in about a week. Unless Trump reaches deals with other countries to lower the tariffs, they could hurt the economy and worsen inflation. <\/p>\n Trump on Wednesday said he reached a deal with Vietnam<\/a>, where U.S. products sold in the country will face zero tariffs and Vietnamese-made goods will face a U.S. tariff of 20%. That helped Nike\u2019s stock rise 3.8%. Factories in Vietnam made half of all Nike brand footwear in its fiscal year of 2024. <\/p>\n