Stocks wavered Wednesday and rates slid as investors digested key jobs and manufacturing data ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes release.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points, or 0.11%, erasing earlier gains after the discharge of two economic reports. The S&P 500 also reversed an earlier increase but was still up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.31%. Shares of Microsoft fell greater than 5% after a downgrade from UBS, weighing on the broader market.
The November Job Openings and Labor Turnover report, or JOLTS, got here in barely higher than anticipated, signaling continued labor market strength amid the central bank’s rate hikes to tame inflation. The ISM manufacturing index, on the flip side, showed a contraction within the sector after 30 months of expansion, signaling that rate of interest increases could also be working to slow the economy.
Still, investors struggled to seek out a transparent direction ahead of more economic data to come back, including Fed meeting minutes due later Wednesday and the December jobs report Friday.
“This could be very much wait and see mode,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial. “After wrapping up a yr that was pretty terrible on all fronts, there’s all the time going to be trepidation by investors to place money to work and we’re seeing that in real time at the least in the primary two trading days.”
U.S. stocks began 2023 on a downbeat note Tuesday as rising rate concerns, high inflation and recessionary fears crushed hopes that Wall Street could kick off the brand new yr on a positive note. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively, while the Dow closed slightly below breakeven. The foremost indexes were also pressured by steep declines in Apple and Tesla shares.
“U.S. stocks were unable to carry onto earlier gains as restrictive policy and recession fears remained front and center for investors,” wrote Oanda’s senior market analyst Ed Moya in a note to clients Tuesday. “Discount buying triggered one other bear market rebound that did not last long in any respect.”
