US open: Stocks head south following disappointing ADP report
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 02 Dec 2020
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were lower at the bell on Wednesday after some disappointing data from the ADP.
As of 1545 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.16% at 29,776.41, while the S&P 500 was 0.09% weaker at 3,659.33 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 0.29% softer at 12,318.74.
The Dow opened 47.51 points lower on Wednesday, cutting into gains recorded in the previous session after lawmakers proposed a $908.0bn stimulus plan only to see it shot down by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell later in the day.
In focus at the bell was news that the UK had approved Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine candidate for emergency use, signalling yet another major step in the battle against the coronavirus.
However, despite the vaccine update, a warning from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell that America's economic outlook was "extremely uncertain" weighed on sentiment in the morning.
Comments from president-elect Joe Biden were also weighing on sentiment after he said he would not move to immediately pull tariffs placed by his predecessor on China.
On the macro front, mortgage applications to purchase a home jumped 9% week-on-week or 28% year-on-year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Elsewhere, ADP employment change figures rose by 307,000 in November, short of consensus estimates for a reading of 430,000 and lower than the 404,000 expected on the Street.
Lastly, the ISM's New York Index decreased by 20.9 points from the 18-month high of 65.1 reported in October to a three-month low of 44.2 in November.
Still to come, Fed chairman Jerome Powell will again testify before Congress, while the central bank's Beige Book will be released at 1900 GMT.
In the corporate space, Salesforce announced overnight that it would be acquiring messaging platform Slack for $27.7bn, the company's largest-ever deal.
No major earnings were slated for release on Wednesday.
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