Wall Street resumed its climb into uncharted territory on Wednesday, with the Dow setting another intraday record as hiring by companies rose strongly last month.
The stock market rally this year has been helped by signs of a strengthening US economy, continued support from the Federal Reserve and fairly attractive equity valuations compared with other assets.
“Stocks don’t seem expensive here,” said Paul Hogan, co-manager of the FAM Equity-Income Fund in Cobleskill, New York.
“All the headlines that were generated because of what happened yesterday with the Dow hitting new all-time highs, that makes more people take notice of the strength in the stock market. It may be bringing people in off the sidelines.”
The slowly healing labour market has been one of the weaker spots of the recovery but data on Wednesday showed private sector hiring was surprisingly strong in February as companies added 198,000 employees.
It was an early look at the labour market two days ahead of the closely watched non-farm payroll report from the government on Friday, which is expected to show the economy created 160,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate held at 7.9 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 45.61 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 14,299.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. SPX rose 2.90 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,542.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC added 2.50 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 3,226.63.
On Tuesday, the Dow ended at 14,253.77, breaking through October 2007’s record close of 14,164.53. For the year, the Dow is up 9 per cent.