NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks finished higher on Wednesday following solid economic data as investors monitored congressional economic stimulus talks and digested the first presidential debate.The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.8 per cent to 3,363.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.7 per cent to 11,167.51.
On the negative side, Disney announced layoffs in its US division and thousands of airline workers were at risk of furlough as soon as Thursday with the expiration of a deadline from an earlier US aid Bill. Those gains ebbed somewhat later in the session after reports that Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not seal a deal. But the two sides agreed to keep talking.
Among individual companies, Disney dropped 1 per cent after it announced it will cut 28,000 jobs from its US theme parks division, singling out California restrictions that have prevented the giant Disneyland resort from reopening due to the coronavirus crisis.