U.S. equities and stock exchange traded funds climbed Wednesday as strong private sector-jobs data fueled optimism over continued economic growth.
The S&P 500 Index, along with related funds including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEArca: VOO), were up 0.8% Wednesday.
Payrolls processor ADP revealed that U.S. companies added a better-than-expected 263,000 workers in March, the most since December 2014, signaling a further tightening of the labor market, reports Herbert Lash for Reuters. In contrast, economists’ projected a median 187,000 increase.
“The ADP survey is clearly another indication that, despite the apparent slowdown in GDP growth in the first quarter, labor market conditions have remained unusually strong,” Capital Economics economist Andrew Hunter told Reuters.
The ADP data came out ahead of the Labor Department’s monthly non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which is comprised of both public and private-sector data.