Shares of industrial and transportation companies rose amid optimism about a second U.S. stimulus bill.

Counterintuitively, an August private-employer survey showing weaker-than-anticipated hiring from Automatic Data Processing and a cautionary tone to the Federal Reserve's regional review of economic activity were seen as increasing the odds of compromise between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Blackstone Group and Global Infrastructure Partners submitted a bid for railroad Kansas City Southern after a previous approach was rebuffed, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The U.S. economy grew modestly over the summer but remained well below its pre-pandemic level of activity, according to the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" regional economic report. 



  Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com