The Nasdaq continued its strong recent run with investors flocking to higher quality defensive earnings, sending the index to another record, 0.3% higher.
Chinese tech stocks listed in the US were among the biggest contributors with Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) up over 6%, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) up 5% and JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) also sharply higher.
They are benefitting from an improvement in sentiment towards the region and a boost in policy stimulus.
Weaker US jobs growth
In the US, it was bad news on the jobs front with the private sector adding 374,000 jobs compared to the 600,000 expected with the real estate, utility and staples firms hit by the impending completion of the $300 child stimulus program.
Both Chinese and US manufacturing gauges continued to slow, with factory activity contracting due to shutdowns and the US struggling due to a labour shortage.
ARK to launch new ESG ETF
Meanwhile, ARK Investment is set to release a ‘Transparency’ ETF that focuses on investing only in quality companies that offer transparency into the ESG risks.
The ETF will closely follow an index that excludes industries including alcohol, banking, gambling and oil and gas.
The top holdings are largely tech and consumer firms, such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Nike (NYSE: NKE).
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US stock market movers
These US stocks were some of the biggest movers on Wednesday:
- Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) up 5.1%
- Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) up 4.5%
- Uber (NSYE: UBER) up 3.8%
- Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) down 2.2%
- Crowdstrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) down 3.9%
- Seagen (NASDAQ: SGEN) down 4.9%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to open lower on Thursday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.