Stocks edged up Wednesday morning on the heels of a mixed session a day earlier, with the three major indexes struggling for direction at the start of June.
The three major indexes traded slightly above the flat line. Brent and West Texas intermediate crude oil prices extended gains after hitting their highest levels since 2018 on Tuesday after OPEC+ suggested demand would rebound during the recovery and opted for gradual supply increases. Treasury yields fell.
Shares of Zoom Video Communications (ZM) jumped after the company's first-quarter earnings and current-quarter guidance topped estimates, helping alleviate concerns over a growth slowdown for the software company as more in-person activities resume.
Investors this week digested more mixed data report on the U.S. economic recovery, with still more signs of supply-side disruptions emerging. On Tuesday, the Institute of Supply Management's headline index of manufacturing sector activity topped estimates, but the report also showed that labor shortages contributed to rising prices and capped production. The Labor Department's May jobs report on Friday is set to offer another look at the pace of re-hiring last month and the employment gaps still left to be filled following the pandemic.