US stocks advanced on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected employment and service-sector data in the United States, but a gloomier outlook in China and Europe weighed on commodity prices and hit energy and materials shares. The S&P's consumer discretionary sector index shot up 1 percent.
It was the best-performing S&P 500 sector, helped by stocks like Amazon, up 1.3 percent at $253.88, and homebuilders like PulteGroup, up 5.7 percent at $16.45. The S&P energy index fell 0.9 percent. Chevron Corp lost 0.9 percent to $116.85 and dragged on the Dow. Exxon Mobil dipped 0.1 percent to $91.65.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 35.82 points, or 0.27 percent, to 13,518.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 7.51 points, or 0.52 percent, to 1,453.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 19.30 points, or 0.62 percent, at 3,139.34. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co fell as much as 8.8 percent to $15.63 - the lowest since April 2003 - and ranked as the heaviest weight on the Dow after the company forecast that revenue at its enterprise services unit would fall between 11 percent and 13 percent in 2013. In early afternoon trading, HP's stock was down 7.6 percent at $15.83.
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