After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks have regained some ground over the course of morning trading on Wednesday. The major averages have climbed well off their worst levels of the day but remain in negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 61.67 points or 0.2 percent at 29,762.25, the Nasdaq is down 50.64 points or 0.4 percent at 12,304.47 and the S&P 500 is down 4.65 points or 0.1 percent at 3,657.80.
The early weakness on Wall Street came after the rally seen in the previous session lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
Traders looked to cash in on yesterday's gains amid lingering concerns about the economic impact of the recent spike in new coronavirus cases.
Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in the month of November.
ADP said private sector employment rose by 307,000 jobs in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 404,000 jobs in October.
Economists had expected employment to increase by 410,000 jobs compared to the addition of 365,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
"While November saw employment gains, the pace continues to slow," said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched employment report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.
Selling pressure has waned over the course of the morning, however, as traders remain optimistic about potential coronavirus vaccines.
The U.K. has approved the vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX), with the vaccine expected to be rolled out next week.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions in the twelve Fed districts.
Software stocks are seeing considerable weakness in morning trading, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index falling by 1.5 percent.
Shares of Salesforce (CRM) have moved sharply lower after the cloud-based software company announced an agreement to acquire messaging platform Slack (WORK) for $27.7 billion.
Notable weakness is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent drop by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
On the other hand, energy stocks have moved sharply higher on the day, benefiting from an increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for February delivery is climbing $0.63 to $45.18 a barrel.
Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index is up by 3.3 percent, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 2.9 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index is up by 2.8 percent.
In overseas trading, most stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended Wednesday's trading little changed. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has jumped by 1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside over the course of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.9 basis points at 0.953 percent.
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