Dow Jones hits fresh record as private hiring picks up

Wall Street resumed its climb into uncharted territory on Wednesday, with the Dow setting another intra-day record as hiring by companies rose strongly last month.

The stock market rally this year has been helped by signs of a strengthening US economy, continued support from the Federal Reserve and fairly attractive equity valuations compared with other assets.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 45.61 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 14,299.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2.90 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,542.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.50 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 3,226.63.

On Tuesday, the Dow ended at 14,253.77, breaking through October 2007's record close of 14,164.53. For the year, the Dow is up 9 per cent. Shortly after trading began on Wednesday, the Dow punched through the previous session's intraday record, trading as high as 14,320.65.

The S&P has gained 8 per cent in the year so far and is less than 2 percent below its record close. The larger S&P 1500 has already reached record highs, thanks to help from smaller-cap companies.

"Stocks don't seem expensive here," said Paul Hogan, co-manager of the FAM Equity-Income Fund in Cobleskill, New York.

"All the headlines that were generated because of what happened yesterday with the Dow hitting new all-time highs, that makes more people take notice of the strength in the stock market. It may be bringing people in off the sidelines."

"We're still bullish on the US," said Tom Elliott, London-based global markets strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, which oversees about $1.4 trillion globally. "The US market has a pull factor �" out of the major developed economies, it's the only one that's growing. If you've got rising employment and house prices, and American banks lending out once again, that supports a rise in consumer spending and is a big drive for the market."

The slowly healing labour market has been one of the weaker spots of the recovery but data on Wednesday showed private sector hiring was surprisingly strong in February as companies added 198,000 employees. The increase in employment followed a revised 215,000 gain the prior month, figures from the Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed on Wednesday.

It was an early look at the labour market two days ahead of the closely watched non-farm payroll report from the government on Friday, which is expected to show the economy created 160,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate held at 7.9 per cent.

Orders to US factories fell in January, weighed down by a slump in demand for military hardware and commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. The Fed releases its Beige Book report, which includes a summary and analysis of economic conditions in 12 US districts, at 2 pm in Washington.

Fed Chairman Ben S Bernanke described the job market as "generally weak" in testimony to a Senate committee on February 26.