Stock search for gains after GDP growth revised lower : Stock market news today

Stocks on the Dow edged higher Wednesday as Wall Street eyed a fourth day of gains, after revised GDP data showed the US economy grew slower in the last quarter than previously estimated.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped 0.25%, or roughly 75 points. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) hovered just above the flat line.

The benchmarks erased earlier small losses after a fresh reading on US GDP showed the economy grew 2.1% in the second quarter, compared with a previous official estimate of 2.4%. Meanwhile, private-sector jobs in August as reported by ADP came in weaker than expected.

The data comes amid hopes for a “soft landing” for the economy, and plays into assessments of whether the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates and potentially denting the economy. Signs of a slowdown in the labor market helped lift the major US gauges to gains on Tuesday.

Both releases will set the stage for Thursday’s PCE inflation report and Friday’s August jobs report, seen as crucial data points that can steer policymakers’ thinking. After this summer’s stronger-than-expected data, the Fed has noted the economy may not be cooling as it expected, Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged last week.

Live Updates

• J1 hour ago
  

  Stocks open higher

  Stocks popped slightly after the opening bell on Wednesday as investors digested weaker than expected private sector labor market data and a downward revision to second quarter economic growth.

  The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped 0.25%, or roughly 75 points. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) hovered just above the flat line.

• J1 hour ago
  

  HP, Conn’s and Bitcoin: Stocks trending in premarket trading

  Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page in premarket trading on Wednesday.

  HP (HPQ): shares fell by 8% as weak PC prices resulted in mixed results from the computer maker.

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  Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. (OTLK): shares plummeted by 78% premarket after the FDA refused to approve its drug for treatment of retinal diseases.

  Conn’s (CONN): stock price rose 9%, despite reporting a loss of $33.5 million in its fiscal second quarter.

  Bitcoin (BTC-USD): the price of Bitcoin rose 5% as it benefited from digital currency asset manager Grayscale’s victory against US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• K4 hours ago
  

  Stock futures slip with GDP, ADP jobs data ahead

  The major US stock gauges were poised Wednesday to pull back from the solid gains logged in the previous session, as investors waited for more insight on the health of the economy.

  Futures on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) were down 0.09%, while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) were flat. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 0.19%.

  In focus are the ADP private-sector employment report and an update on second-quarter GDP due later.

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