Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 1, 2023.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
U.S. stocks gyrated on Wednesday as investors assessed economic data indicating inflation is falling.
The Dow Jones industrial Average added 22 points, trading near flat. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also little changed.
Stocks cooled from earlier advances, with the Dow at one up point up nearly 170 points. All three indexes have traded both above and below their respective flatlines in the choppy session.
The market got a morning boost after data showed a drop in labor costs boded positively for the path of inflation, while a jump in productivity signaled the potential for the economy to skirt a recession. Private payroll data from ADP offered the latest indication that the job market, long considered a pain point for the Federal Reserve, was easing.
"ADP's payroll data shows the Fed's anti-inflation treatment is now really taking effect," said David Russell, global head of market strategy at online investing platform TradeStation. "The numbers point toward a soft landing, but investors may start to worry about a recession if policy remains too hawkish. It's the Fed's battle to lose at this point."
But Wednesday's ADP report is just one in a string of labor-focused data releases expected over the course of the week. On Tuesday, Labor Department data showed job openings in October fell to the lowest level since March 2021. Investors will monitor jobless claims numbers on Thursday before turning attention to widely followed data on nonfarm payrolls, wages and the unemployment rate due Friday.
"There's no getting around the fact that the data at the end of the week ... is the one everyone is eagerly waiting for," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
Labor costs also fell more than economists expected, while productivity increased at a higher rate than anticipated, new government data showed.
Wednesday's moves follow back-to-back losses for the Dow and S&P 500. The declines raised questions around whether the late 2023 rally was taking a pause or if the market had run up too far, too fast.
But the Nasdaq Composite was able to buck the downtrend on Tuesday. Technology stocks, which led the November rally, have risen as Treasury yields pulled back.
Cloud company Box tumbled more than 9% after reporting third-quarter results that came in below analyst expectations. On the other hand, homebuilder stock Toll Brothers gained almost 3% after exceeding expectations on the top and bottom lines.
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