Sept. 1 (UPI) — Markets turned in modest changes in the first day of trading for September, while outperforming tech stocks pushed the Nasdaq Composite to a record Wednesday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.33%, while the S&P 500 closed mostly flat with a gain of 0.032%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 48.2 points, or 0.14%.
Netflix stock gained 2.26% after the company announced the entire Seinfeld library will begin streaming on the platform in October and Zoom closed up 0.47% after dropping 16% on Tuesday.
U.S. crude oil prices fell to near $68 per barrel after OPEC+ members increased output by 400,000 barrels per day each month through December during a meeting to help meet increasing energy demand.
Markets also responded Wednesday to a report by ADP and Moody’s that the U.S. economy added 374,000 private jobs during the month of August, well below analysts’ estimates of 600,000.
“With so much pressure on improvement on the labor market front coming from the Fed, this could send a signal that jobs growth is stagnating,” Mile Lowengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade, said according to CNBC. “That’s likely a good thing for the markets though as it means easy money policy continues.”
All three major indexes closed August with gains as the S&P 500 rose 2.9% for the month, notching seven consecutive winning months, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 4% and the Dow climbed 1.2%.
