Wall Street edges higher as financial markets steady themselves

NEW YORK —  U.S. stocks edged higher on a quiet Wednesday, and Treasury yields rose following an encouraging update on the job market’s strength.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 finished virtually unchanged, a day after sliding from its record on worries about a possible widening of the fighting in the Middle East. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up by 39 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

Oil prices rose again as the world waits to see how Israel will respond to Tuesday’s missile attack from Iran, but they pared their gains as the day progressed. After briefly topping $76 earlier, the price for a barrel of Brent crude settled at $73.90, up 0.5%.

While Israel is not a major producer of oil, Iran is, and a worry is that a broadening war could affect neighboring countries that are also integral to the flow of crude. Helping to keep oil prices in check, meanwhile, are signals that supplies remain ample at the moment. The amount of crude in U.S. inventories increased last week, according to a U.S. government report.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose after a report indicated hiring by U.S. employers outside the government may have been stronger last month than expected.

The report from ADP Research said private-sector employers accelerated their hiring in September. That could be an encouraging signal for the more comprehensive report on the U.S. job market due to arrive Friday from the U.S. government.

The dominant question hanging over Wall Street has been whether the job market can keep holding up after the Federal Reserve earlier kept interest rates at a two-decade high. The Fed was trying to press the brakes hard enough on the economy to stamp out high inflation.

Stocks are near records in large part on the belief that the U.S. economy will indeed continue to grow, now that the Federal Reserve has shifted to cutting interest rates to give it more juice. The Fed last month lowered its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years and indicated more cuts would arrive through next year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.78% from 3.73% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for what the Fed will do with overnight interest rates, rose to 3.63% from 3.61%.

Traders are ratcheting back their expectations for how much the Fed will cut rates by at its next meeting in November. They’re now mostly betting on a traditional-sized cut of a quarter of a percentage point, according to data from CME Group.

On Wall Street, Caesars Entertainment jumped 5.3% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The casino owner said it approved a new program to deliver up to $500 million to shareholders by buying back more of its stock.

Ciena climbed 7.4% after the networking company announced its own program to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock.

Those gains helped offset an 11.8% tumble for Humana after the insurer warned a drop in its quality ratings for Medicare Advantage could mean a hit to its revenue in 2026. Humana said it believes there may be errors in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ calculations, and it is trying to challenge the ratings.

Nike sank 6.8% even though the athletic giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts, and the slump shows how much work incoming Chief Executive Elliott Hill has in making the brand cool among customers. Nike also pulled its forecast for full-year financial results and postponed its investors day conference.

Conagra Brands fell 8.1% after the company behind Duncan Hines and Reddi-wip reported weaker profit than analysts expected. It said temporary manufacturing disruptions at its Hebrew National business during prime grilling season hurt its results.

Tesla sank 3.5% despite reporting an increase in its deliveries of electric vehicles during the latest quarter, the first time that has happened this year. The number topped analysts’ forecasts, but investors may have been expecting an even bigger increase.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 0.79 to 5,709.54. The Dow gained 39.55 to 42,196.52, and the Nasdaq added 14.76 to 17,925.12.

In stock markets abroad, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng roared 6.2% higher, riding a wave of investor enthusiasm over recent announcements from Beijing to rev up the Chinese economy. With Shanghai and other markets in China closed for a holiday, trading crowded into Hong Kong.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.2% to continue its sharp swings, while indexes in Europe were mixed.

Choe writes for the Associated Press. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.