Wednesday’s early trade: S&P hovers near record high

AMSTERDAM/LONDON: The S&P 500 hovered near a record high on Wednesday as US private payrolls increased in June even as hiring slowed, with Wall Street’s major averages set to end their fifth straight quarter of gains.

The S&P growth index, which houses mega-cap names Apple Inc, Amazon, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp, has jumped nearly 11.9% this quarter, outperforming its value peer and narrowing the gap for the year-to-date performance.

At 11:48 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 142.72 points, or 0.42%, at 34,435.01 and the S&P 500 was up 3.35 points, or 0.08%, at 4,295.15. The Nasdaq Composite was down 17.42 points, or 0.12%, at 14,510.91.