Stock Market Today: The Taper Is On, And Stocks Take Off
An encouraging employment indicator wasn't enough to rouse investors Wednesday, but Chair Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve managed to coax more record territory from stocks by doing … well, exactly what market pundits said they would.
ADP reported that October's private payrolls improved by 571,000 – led by a surge in leisure and hospitality hiring (185,000 positions) – to trounce expectations for 400,000 jobs added. That data was met with apathy from the major indexes, but the market perked up in the afternoon once the Fed released its post-FOMC statement.
As many expected, the
