Stocks Higher Wednesday amid Greece News, Jobs Data

U.S. Market
Stocks were higher Wednesday amid reports that Greece will proceed with its referendum on Sunday to decide whether to accept creditors’ demands.

Separately, employers added 237,000 private-sector jobs in June, according to ADP data. This number, the most since December, exceeds economists’ consensus estimate of 220,000.

The ISM Manufacturing Index rose to 53.5 in June from 52.8 in May.

The Dow was up 0.8%, the S&P 500 was up 0.7%, and the Nasdaq was up around 0.5%.

Stocks on the Move
Shares of Chubb Corp (CB) were up 26% Wednesday after news that ACE intends to acquire the insurer in a $28 billion deal that values Chubb at $124 per share. "The combination will create a large, diversified insurer that will play in every major line of the global P&C insurance market and in a number of countries, with ACE’s large corporate commercial customer base merging with Chubb's middle market commercial insurance operations and personal lines,” said Morningstar senior equity analyst Brett Horn. "We expect to maintain our narrow moat rating for the combined company, as we believe that both Chubb and ACE operate primarily in moaty lines of business."

Foreign Markets
European shares sharply higher today. The FTSE was up 1.3%, while the CAC was up 1.9%, and the DAX was up 2.2%.

Chinese shares were mixed, with the Shanghai losing 5.2%, the Nikkei adding 0.5%, and the Hang Seng rising 1.1%.