US stocks moved higher on Wednesday as optimism over US trade deals rose at the same time that more signs of an intensifying labor market slowdown bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was just below the flat line. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose nearly 0.5%, closing at an all-time high of 6,277.42.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up more than 0.9%, also hitting a record close at 20,393.13, with Apple (AAPL) stock rising after an upgrade from Jefferies analysts and Tesla (TSLA) shares climbing after the EV maker produced more vehicles globally than expected in the second quarter even as sales plummeted.

The June jobs report is expected to show hiring slowed while the unemployment rate moved higher. The data’s release will come as investors closely watch for any further signs of slowing in the US labor market amid growing debate over when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics data is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to have risen by 110,000 in June and the unemployment rate to have moved up to 4.3%, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

In May, the US economy added 139,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held flat at 4.2%.

Here are the numbers Wall Street is expecting Thursday, according to data from Bloomberg:

“We think labor demand is slowing, but so far the slowdown is modest,” Morgan Stanley chief US economist Michael Gapen wrote in a note to clients.

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At the midway point of 2025, the S&P 500 is at an all-time high and has gained more than 6%. Five sectors — Technology (XLK), Financials (XLF), Utilities (XLU), Communication Services (XLC), and Industrials (XLI) — all gained more than 8% in the first six months of the year.

On a headline basis, these are returns most investors would be satisfied with. But perhaps underrated within those headline numbers is just how chaotic the first half of 2025 was for investors.

Research from Exhibit A co-founder Matt Cerminaro shows both the Tech and Communication Services sectors fell more than 22% from their most recent high at some point this year.

With both sectors now among the best performers of the year, this market action is a prime example of why stock strategists often point out that the biggest losers amid a market drawdown often later become the biggest winners off the bottom. It also serves as a simple reminder of an often-cited market phrase, “volatility is the price of admission” for investors seeking long-term gains in the stock market.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

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Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre reports:

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Robinhood (HOOD) shares touched a record high of $100 for the first time ever on Wednesday, driven by momentum around the trading platform’s continued expansion.

The stock soared 7% during the session, extending a monster year-to-date rally of more 160%.

Earlier this week Robinhood unveiled tokenized stock and ETF trading in the European Union, as the platform aggressively builds on its offerings.

With tokenized stocks, Robinhood’s European app transitions from a crypto-only app to a broader offering where customers can invest in stocks and ETFs.

Wall Street is bullish on the stock, with Bernstein analysts recently highlighting Robinhood’s major expansion in the crypto space.

“HOOD leaned early into crypto in 2021 and persisted through the regulatory headwinds in 2022/2023, while other brokers played conservative and are only now waking up to the crypto opportunity,” Bernstein analysts wrote in May, noting Robinhood now forms 30% of US retail crypto trading revenues.

DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria reiterated his view that Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) needs a “complete breakup” to unlock the value of its individual businesses, maintaining his Hold rating on the stock.

Luria wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday, “We believe the only way forward for Alphabet is a complete breakup that would allow investors to own the businesses they actually want.”

Google is waiting for a federal judge’s ruling in the remedy phase of its antitrust case with the Department of Justice, in which the company was found liable for illegally monopolizing the general search engine market and the market for general search engine text

“We see Google Cloud (GCP) as potentially one of the best standalone software stocks,” Luria wrote. “GCP is not only a top 3 hyperscaler expected to generate $ 55bn of revenue this year, but provides a full suite of tools around that core offering that is competitive with the two leaders Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.”

Luria noted that Google Cloud “has an architecture advantage” because of its access to in-house AI chips (Google’s TPUs, or tensor processing units) in addition to its Nvidia (NVDA) servers. He said shares of Google Cloud as a standalone stock would trade at $56 per share.

Intel stock fell 3.7% after Reuters reported that the struggling chipmaker’s new CEO is considering scrapping the company’s long-awaited 18A technology for external customers — a chip manufacturing process that analysts have said is Intel’s greatest hope for succeeding in a turnaround and becoming competitive with TSMC (TSM).

According to Reuters, CEO Lip-Bu Tan has said that 18A was losing its appeal with customers. So far, Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) have signed on to build their own chips using Intel’s 18A process.

Intel opened up its manufacturing business to outside clients in 2021 under former CEO Pat Gelsinger. But Wall Street analysts, investors, and executives grew exasperated with his strategy and what they saw as unrealistic goals for the business, which lost $13.4 billion in 2024 despite recording a revenue of $17.5 billion.

Tan joined the company in March, and analysts and former executives told Yahoo Finance the new CEO needed to release 18A for outside customers to show that the company can execute after a history of delays and cancellations of its products and manufacturing processes.

But Tan would instead like to focus on 14A, the manufacturing technology that is the successor to 18A.

President Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam, lifting investor sentiment that more agreements could come before the July 9 tariff-pause deadline.

“The Terms are that Vietnam will pay the United States a 20% Tariff on any and all goods sent into our Territory, and a 40% Tariff on any Transshipping,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday morning.

“In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,” he added.

“It is my opinion that the SUV or, as it is sometimes referred to, Large Engine Vehicle, which does so well in the United States, will be a wonderful addition to the various product lines within Vietnam,” wrote Trump.

Investors have been closely watching developments on the trade front as July 9 approaches — the deadline following a 90-day pause of reciprocal tariffs announced in April.

The US recently announced a framework agreement with China, a major trading partner.

Insurance stocks dropped across the board Wednesday following the passage during the prior trading session of Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill, which would gut federal healthcare spending over the next decade.

UnitedHealth (UNH) fell nearly 3%, while Aetna parent company CVS Health (CVS) dropped over 2%. Cigna (CI) declined 3%, while Elevance Health (ELV) fell almost 9%.

The megabill’s provision to slash federal spending on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces by about $1 trillion would leave almost 12 million people without insurance by 2034, NPR reported.

Tesla stock climbed nearly 3% early Wednesday after the EV maker reported global electric vehicle deliveries that came in below Wall Street’s low projections but produced more cars than expected.

Tesla said Wednesday it delivered 384,122 EVs in the second quarter, less than the 389,407 projected by Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg consensus estimates. The company’s deliveries for the period marked a 13% drop from the prior year, but an increase from the 336,681 vehicles delivered in the first quarter.

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Apple (AAPL) stock climbed about 1% Wednesday before the market open following an upgrade from analysts at Jefferies, who raised their rating to Hold from Underperform previously.

Citing Counterpoint Research, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee said global iPhone sales rose 15% in April and May from the prior year, the strongest growth since the third quarter of 2021. Lee estimated that iPhone sales in China grew 19% in that period, partly due to targeted discounts and government subsidies as well as “pulled-in demand,” or Chinese consumers buying phones ahead of anticipated tariffs.

“This is a strong sign that AAPL is determined to defend market share in China, and Chinese consumers are still willing to buy iPhone at lower prices,” Lee wrote.

But he also said the release of the iPhone 17 in the second half of 2025 may not provide the boost Apple needs. Lee wrote that “sales could be at risk since there remains a lack of new features, and AI is not yet a game changer.”

Apple shares jumped 1.3% Tuesday following a report from Bloomberg that the iPhone maker is considering using AI technology from startups Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) or OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) to power a new version of Siri.

Still, the stock was down 17% for the 12 months through Tuesday.

Private employers unexpectedly cut 33,000 jobs in June, the latest signal of an intensifying slowdown in the US labor market.

On Wednesday, data from ADP showed private payrolls fell by 33,000 last month in June, below the 29,000 job gains seen in May and the 98,000 additions expected by economists.

This marked the first month of job losses in the private sector since March 2023. May’s initial reading of 37,000 private payroll additions had been the lowest monthly total since March ’23.

“Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in the release. “Still, the slowdown in hiring has yet to disrupt pay growth.”

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Some of the world’s most influential stocks are dragging the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) down. The names Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) — part of the Mag 7 and synonymous with growth and value seem to be preventing the S&P 500 from reaching further highs.

Bloomberg News reports:

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