The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 54.05 points (0.2%) to 23,111.46, the S&P 500 slipped 16.25 points (0.2%) to 6,800.26 and the Dow slid 302.30 points (0.6%) to 48,114.26.
Wall Street trading turned choppy after the Labor Department’s November jobs report showed mixed signals. Non-farm payrolls rose by 64,000 jobs—stronger than expected—but followed a sharp loss of 105,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021, suggesting a cooling labor market even as hiring rebounded modestly.
Economists said the data increased the likelihood of more Federal Reserve rate cuts but also fueled concerns about economic weakness. Meanwhile, retail sales in October were flat, missing expectations for a 0.2% rise, though excluding auto sales, they gained 0.4%, hinting at cautious consumer spending.
Several major sectors showed only modest moves. energy stocks saw substantial weakness amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil. With the price of crude oil plummeting to its lowest levels since early 2021, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plunged by 4.2% and the NYSE Arca Oil Index tumbled by 3.6%. Pharmaceutical, healthcare and networking stocks were notably weak while computer hardware stocks regained some ground following recent weakness.
Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.6%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.1%. The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7%, the German DAX Index fell by 0.6% and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2%.
In the bond market, treasuries moved higher as traders reacted to the mixed jobs data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, declined 3.3 bps to 4.14%.