Wall Street is in the green on Wednesday following two sessions of losses for the S&P 500 index, as lower-than-expected ISM services PMI eased concerns that the U.S. economy is overheating and potentially discouraging the Fed to consider rate cuts.

The ISM Services PMI dropped from 52.6 in February to 51.4 in March, indicating the slowest growth in three months and falling short of the forecasted 52.7.

The ADP National Employment Report revealed a stronger-than-expected surge in private payrolls, with employers adding 184,000 new jobs last month, surpassing the predicted 140,000.

The U.S. dollar experienced a slight pullback, declining by 0.4% for the day.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered a keynote address at Stanford University, reiterating that the central bank is making decisions on a meeting-by-meeting basis.

He also said that if the economy progresses as expected, many Federal Open Market Committee members believe it’s likely they will start lowering interest rates sometime this year.

Meanwhile, global commodities continue to trade in an uptrend. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices surged to $86 a barrel on Wednesday, marking their highest level since late October 2023 and poised to record their fourth consecutive day of gains.

Gold surged 0.5% to $2,290/oz on track for its eight straight positive day, while silver rallied 2.6% to $26.80.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.4% higher to $520.78, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) was 0.2% higher to $392.50 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) was 0.6% higher to $443.54, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI) outperformed, up 0.7%, while the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) was the laggard, down 1%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

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Image generated using artificial intelligence with Midjourney.