Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday, extending the pullback seen during the previous session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have both moved to the downside on the day, although the narrower Dow has managed to buck the downtrend.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Nasdaq is down 160.28 points or 1.3 percent at 11,966.05 and the S&P 500 is down 19.10 points or 0.5 percent at 4,081.50. Meanwhile, the Dow has spent some time in negative territory but is currently up 31.72 points or 0.1 percent at 33,434.10.<\/p>\n
The overall weakness on Wall Street partly reflects concerns about the economic outlook following the release of disappointing data.<\/p>\n
Payroll processor ADP released a report before the start of trading showing private sector employment increased by less than expected in the month of March.<\/p>\n
ADP said private sector employment rose by 145,000 jobs in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 261,000 jobs in February.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected private sector employment to advance by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 242,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
“Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy<\/span> is slowing,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down.”<\/p>\n A separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed by much more than expected in the month of March.<\/p>\n The ISM said its services PMI slid to 51.2 in March from 55.1 in February. While a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector, economists had expected the index to show a much more modest decrease to 54.5.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the uptick by the Dow is partly due to a strong gain by shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), with the healthcare giant surging by 3.8 percent.<\/p>\n The jump by J&J comes after the company announced it has agreed to pay $8.9 billion over 25 years to settle claims that the talc in its baby powder and other products caused cancer.<\/p>\n Other healthcare-related Dow components like UnitedHealth (UNH), Merck (MRK) and Amgen (AMGN) are also posting notable gains.<\/p>\n Sector News<\/p>\n Semiconductor stocks continue to see significant weakness in afternoon trading, extending the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. <\/p>\n The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is down by 2.4 percent, continuing to give back ground after ending last Friday’s trading at its best closing level in almost a year.<\/p>\n Considerable weakness also remains visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Broker\/Dealer Index. <\/p>\n Airline, software and computer hardware stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while utilities stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the Dow Jones Utility Average up by 2.7 percent to a two-month intraday high.<\/p>\n The jump by shares of Johnson & Johnson is also contributing to strength in the pharmaceutical sector, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index climbing by 1.6 percent to its best intraday level in well over two months.<\/p>\n Other Markets<\/p>\n