<p>Wall Street ended modestly higher on Wednesday on stronger-than-expected U.S. labor and service sector data, but the Dow industrials stumbled by a slide in Hewlett-Packard.</p><br /><p>HP, the largest U.S. technology company by revenue, forecast that its earnings will slide sharply next year, compared with Wall Street's expectations for flat profits. </p><br /><p>Data showed growth in the U.S. services sector picked up in September, defying economists' expectations for a slight decrease, while last month, the private sector added more jobs than forecast. The data comes ahead of the closely watched monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report on Friday.</p>
