IXIC: Nasdaq Composite Logs New Record, S&P 500 Joins In Ahead of Key Jobs Report

Week flew by faster than your stop loss getting hit during an NFP release. With a half-day Thursday and Friday off, stocks are making the most of it. Just before June’s jobs data.

💸 Stocks Squeeze Gains In Before Holiday Break

• The Nasdaq Composite IXIC closed up 0.9% Wednesday, notching a shiny record high just before the fireworks go off with June’s jobs data.
• The S&P 500 joined the party with a 0.5% gain, chalking up its third record close in the past week as investors piled into growth and AI plays — the modern-day heroes in stock town.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the cool kids, finishing down by a tiny 11 points—basically flat — as traders favored riskier tech and small-caps.

📣 Traders Brush Off ADP Miss, Look Ahead to NFP

• Wall Street shrugged off a surprise miss in private payrolls from the ADP report, reminding everyone it doesn’t always align with the official Labor Department NFP print. The private sector lost 33,000 jobs last month, sharply deviating from the 100,000 in gains expected.
• June’s nonfarm payrolls are due Thursday morning (a rare change of date due to Friday’s celebrations), with consensus calling for 120,000 new jobs, down from May’s 139,000 — so any big deviation could shake rate-cut bets.
• With the market’s rate-cut mood still very much alive, a softer jobs number could fuel more record-setting highs when US traders get back from downing their holiday-inspired mezcal espresso martinis.

☕ Half-Day Hustle Before July 4th

• But before that, Thursday’s session could get volatile in a hurry: the jobs report hits in the morning, but US equity markets shut at 1 p.m. ET for an early start to the celebrations.
• The bond market will close an hour later, at 2 p.m. ET, wrapping up a jam-packed week of macro data, Fed chatter and summer positioning.
• After that? Bring on the fireworks—both literal and on the charts, as traders prep for Q3 with major indexes at all-time highs and plenty of momentum in the tank for the earnings season to deliver another spectacular performance (keep your eye on the Earnings calendar).