Wall Street edges higher with labor, shutdown uncertainties in focus

By Sinéad Carew and Niket Nishant (Reuters) -The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes were up slightly on Thursday afternoon, as investors monitored private labor market data in the second day of a U.S. government shutdown.  While the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had hit intraday records earlier in the day, they pared gains on uncertainty about the U.S. shutdown and the jobs market.  The benchmark index's valuation was still around its highest levels since 2020.  And with no official government data available because of the shutdown, investors were monitoring information from other souces. A report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S. employers announced fewer layoffs in September that but hiring plans so far this year were the lowest since 2009. It followed the previous day's weaker-than-expected ADP National Employment Report. "The market is looking at all of that against the backdrop of what was already weak job data in recent months to try to gauge the real path forward for the labor market from here," said Jim Baird, chief investment officer with Plante Moran Financial Advisors. While the shutdown was not a shock and investors have been soothed by the knowledge that such closures have typically not hurt the market in the past, Baird noted that it still caused worries. "Given how polarized the two (political) parties are right now, and both seem to be staking out their respective positions, it wouldn't be surprising if this one drags out a little bit longer," he said, adding that "in the absence of earnings data and broad economic data, there's not been a catalyst to drive a move higher or a selloff."  At 2:14 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 109.82 points, or 0.24%, at 46,550.92, the S&P 500 gained 8.17 points, or 0.12%, to 6,719.37 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 90.81 points, or 0.40%, to 22,845.46.  Meanwhile, it did not help that Tesla was down 3.8%. The electric vehicle maker gave up initial gains after a strong quarterly deliveries report, as some analysts flagged risks to sales in the upcoming quarters due to the withdrawal of the $7,500 federal tax credit. The S&P 500 healthcare sector fell 0.4%, on track to break its four-day streak of gains.  Earlier in the session, the S&P and the Nasdaq indexes hit their intraday record highs of 6,731.94 and 22,900.60, respectively. The S&P 500's forward price-to-earnings ratio has climbed to 23.1. The tech sector, up 0.6%, was the biggest boost to the S&P 500, with Nvidia and  Broadcom leading the charge.  The stocks catapulted the broader semiconductor index to a record high. It was last up close to 2% and helped boost the Nasdaq. Consumer discretionary stocks fell 0.4% and were the biggest drag on the S&P 500 due to Tesla's selloff.  Shares of credit bureaus Equifax and TransUnion were down 7.7% and 9.7%, respectively, after FICO launched a program that could allow mortgage lenders to gain access to credit scores without relying on the bureaus. FICO surged 19.6% to top the benchmark index. Occidental Petroleum said it would sell its petrochemical division to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion. Shares of the oil and gas producer fell 7.6%. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.05-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 420 new highs and 82 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,441 stocks rose and 2,122 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.15-to-1 ratio.  The S&P 500 posted 33 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 125 new highs and 64 new lows. (Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York and Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Matthew Lewis)

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