While you were sleeping: Stocks rally to end quarter

Wall Street climbed as investors wrapped up a tough quarter marred by concern about slower global economic growth.

An ADP report showing US private employers added a better-than-expected 200,000 jobs in September, up from a downwardly revised 186,000 in August, helped Wall Street. 

On Friday, a government report is expected to show US employers hired 203,000 workers in September, while the unemployment rate will hold at 5.1%, according to a Reuters survey.

A separate report showed the Chicago purchasing management index dropped more than expected in September, sliding to 48.7 from 54.4 in August.

Even so, "in aggregate, growth still looks strong to keep the unemployment rate trending down," New York-based High Frequency Economics chief US economist Jim O'Sullivan told Reuters.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1%, up 235.57 points to 16,284.70, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.9% to 1920.03 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 2.3% to 4620.03.

Advances in shares of Intel and those of Nike, up 3% and 1.6% respectively, propelled the Dow higher.

"The market is in a relief rally after five days of sell-off and as investors rebalance their portfolios," Wunderlich Securities chief market strategist Art Hogan told Reuters.

While the latest US jobs data underpinned the gain on Wall Street, the increase was also driven by the fact that it was the final day of a tough quarter.

"This is the worst quarter in four years," Andrew Brenner, the head of international fixed income for National Alliance Capital Markets, told Bloomberg.

"If stocks had had a great quarter, investors would be selling them and buying bonds but that's not the case today."

While US Treasurys fell on Wednesday, they posted a solid quarter as investors flocked to the perceived safety of fixed-income securities amid concern about global growth.

The yield on the benchmark US 10-year note has fallen about 28 basis points since June 30, the biggest quarterly drop since the last three months of 2014, according to Bloomberg.

Indeed, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde warned that "global growth will likely be weaker this year than last, with only a modest acceleration expected in 2016."

The IMF's global projections will be released next week, when it also hosts its semi-annual meetings in Peru.

"We see global growth that is disappointing and uneven," Ms Lagarde says. "In addition, medium-term growth prospects have become weaker. The 'new mediocre' of which I warned exactly a year ago - the risk of low growth for a long time - looms closer."

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 2.5% gain from the previous close. France's CAC 40 Index increased 2.2%, while Germany's DAX Index and the UK's FTSE 100 Index both jumped 2.6%.

[Updated for Wall Street close at 10am NZ time.]

(BusinessDesk)