MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Edge Up After ADP As Dow Eyes 17,000

By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks inched higher Wednesday, building slightly on the prior day's record-setting advance, as a better-than-expected report on private-sector hiring underscored the economy's recent strength.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average remains within striking distance of 17,000 after coming within two points of that milestone intraday Tuesday, when the blue-chip index and S&P 500 both achieved all-time closing highs.

On Wednesday, the Dow industrials(DJI) rose 1 point, or less than 0.1%, to 16,967, while the S&P 500(SPX) nudged up 1 point to 1,974. The Nasdaq(RIXF) gained 5 points to 4,463.

The private sector added 281,000 jobs in June, beating economists expectations for 215,000 new jobs. The ADP release presages the government's closely watched monthly jobs report, which will be released Thursday -- a day earlier than usual because of the July 4th holiday on Friday.

The ADP report has "not been a good indicator" for the jobs report, but still "the growth bulls will be pleased and the whisper numbers on payroll will probably rise as the day moves forward," said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities, in emailed comments Wednesday. (Read more: This changes everything::: OK, nothing, but ADP still good sign http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-changes-every-ok-nothing-but-adp-still-good-sign-2014-07-02.)

Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at R.W. Baird, said stocks "might not do much today" after Tuesday's record-setting advance -- and given the closely watched jobs report that's due Thursday.

"The market kind of broke out in a sense yesterday," Bittles told MarketWatch.

Follow MarketWatch's live blog of Wednesday's stock market action

Government figures on factory orders for May also were released Wednesday, showing a 0.5% decline. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a decrease of 0.4%.

In addition to Wednesday's economic data, investors took in comments from Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, with at least one analyst seeing a "slightly dovish" tone. The S&P 500 rose to a session high as the full text of Yellen's speech came out, but then quickly pared its gain.

Among individual stocks, Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ) gained 3%, delivering the best performance among S&P 500 stocks after the distributor of Corona beer and Svedka vodka posted better-than-expected quarterly results. Meanwhile, Rackspace Hosting Inc. (RAX) jumped 8% following a report the cloud-services company is thinking of going private.

On the downside, GoPro Inc. (GPRO) slid 10%, putting the video-camera maker's stock on track for its first daily loss since debuting last week, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) fell 1% following news late Tuesday that CEO Jamie Dimon has "curable" throat cancer. (Read more in MarketWatch's Movers & Shakers column http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jp-morgan-constellation-brands-paychex-are-stocks-to-watch-2014-07-02.)

In other markets, August oil (CLQ4) fell, while gold futures (GCQ4) edged up. Stocks in Asia finished higher, including a 0.3% rise of Japan's Nikkei Average , and the Stoxx Europe 600 extended gains from Tuesday when it notched its strongest performance in two months.

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