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 That also put more focus on Friday's government jobs data, which is
among the most widely watched economic indicators.
"There's positioning ahead of that report," said Bucky Hellwig,
senior vice president of BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham,
Alabama.
He also said "there was money moving in at the end of the quarter so
now there's an upward bias."
The jobs report is expected to show that employers added 200,000 to
nonfarm payrolls in March, the largest gain in four months,
according to a Reuters poll of economists.
Eight of 10 S&P 500 sector indexes ended in positive territory, led
by the consumer discretionary sector index <.SPLRCD>, up 0.7
percent.
Wednesday's data from payrolls processor ADP showed U.S.
private-sector employers added 191,000 workers in March, slightly
below the 195,000 forecast, while gains in the previous month were
revised to 178,000 from a previously reported 139,000, signaling
that a winter-related impact on job growth earlier this year was
easing.
Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods jumped 1.6 percent in
February, the biggest rise since September and above a 1.2 percent
estimate, the Commerce Department said. January's durable goods
orders were revised to show a larger drop of 1.0 percent instead of
the previously reported decline of 0.7 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 40.39 points or 0.24
percent, to end at 16,573. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 5.38 points or
0.29 percent, to finish at 1,890.90, a record closing high. The S&P
500 also hit an intraday record high of 1,893.17.
The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 8.416 points or 0.20 percent, to
close at 4,276.456.
Shares of MannKind Corp <MNKD.O> soared 73.9 percent to end at
$6.99. U.S. health advisers recommended approval of the company's
inhaled diabetes drug on Tuesday.
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Among the day's decliners, fertilizer company Agrium Inc <AGU.TO><AGU.N>
said a late start to spring and railroad-related backlogs will
result in first-quarter earnings per share just above breakeven. Its
shares lost 1.4 percent to $96.15.
In another weather-related announcement, Delta Air Lines <DAL.N>
said flight cancellations reduced its March quarter profit by $55
million. Shares dipped 0.1 percent to $35.70.
Apollo Education Group Inc <APOL.O> tumbled 8.8 percent to $32.06.
The company reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue. Apollo
also said it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of
Education's Office of Inspector General, seeking information about
the operations of the Northeast region of the University of Phoenix.
DFC Global Corp <DLLR.O> gained 5.2 percent to $9.45. The pawn and
payday lender said it would be acquired by private equity firm Lone
Star Funds for about $1.3 billion, including debt.
About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, slightly
below the 6.5 billion average so far this month, according to data
from BATS Global Markets.
Advancers beat decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,721 to
1,289 and on the Nasdaq by 1,473 to 1,150.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum, Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)
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