U.S. stocks extended their rally Wednesday, giving the S&P 500 its 22nd record close of 2020 and pushing the Dow industrials above 29000 for the first time since February.

The S&P gained 1.5% to 3580, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6%, or 453 points, to 29099. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite picked up 1% and notched its 43rd record of the year.

New data Wednesday suggested a recovery is underway in the labor market, though a slow one. The American private sector added 428,000 jobs in August, according to payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. The figure came in well below the expected 1.17 million jobs.

If the S&P 500 holds the day’s gains, it will have closed higher in nine of the past 10 trading days.

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“It just feels like the market’s grinding higher every single day, regardless of the news,” said Charles Day, managing director and private wealth advisor at UBS.

Investors this month are looking to assess the timing and size of the next installment of U.S. stimulus spending to offer relief to American consumers and businesses. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday urged Congress to appropriate more money to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and said he was ready to sit down with Democratic leaders to resume negotiations. Read more at WSJ