The Dow climbed 270.03 points (0.6%) to 49,266.11, bouncing back toward the record closing high set on Tuesday. The S&P 500 also crept up by 0.53 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,921.46 but the Nasdaq fell 104.26 points (0.4%) to 23,480.02.
Wall Street showed a mixed performance as traders held back from major moves ahead of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report due Friday. Economists expect December employment to rise by 60,000 after a gain of 64,000 in November, with the unemployment rate projected to edge down to 4.5% from 4.6%. The data is expected to influence expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next policy decision later this month.
The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged at its January 27–28 meeting, though markets anticipate a possible quarter-point rate cut in the coming months. Meanwhile, a separate Labor Department report showed initial jobless claims rose slightly less than forecast, inching up to 208,000 in the week ending January 3 from 200,000 the prior week. Economists had predicted a small increase to 210,000.
Energy stocks moved sharply higher as the price of crude oil skyrocketed, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiking by 4.3% and the NYSE Arca Oil Index surging by 3.6%. Housing stocks was substantially strong, as reflected by the 3.4% jump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Biotechnology and semiconductor stocks significant moved downwards, contributing to the drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.2%. The major European markets ended the day little changed while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down by less than a tenth of a%, the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.1%.
In the bond market, treasuries moved notably lower as President Donald Trump's call to increase military spending raised concerns about the national debt. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, jumped by 4.5 bps to 4.18%.