Stock Market News Today: Major averages trade mixed after softer ADP jobs report
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Major market averages trade mixed on Wednesday morning after a softer ADP jobs report.
Early on and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) fell 0.9%, the S&P 500(SP500) slid 0.3%, and the Dow (DJI) moved up 0.1%.
Rates slid Wednesday morning. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) dipped 5 basis points to 3.28% and the 2-year yield (US2Y) fell 12 basis points to 3.70%.
The 10Y Treasury yield dropped to a 6-month trading low as it hit levels not seen since September of 2022. “As Fed cuts become more probable, yields should continue to fall,” ING stated.
The “big turning point (for stocks) yesterday occurred following a US data release, with the retracement coming after the US job openings (JOLTS) report came out,” Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid wrote. It “marked the first time (openings have) been beneath 10m since May 2021. The release added to the signs that the Fed’s tightening cycle was increasingly having an effect, and the historic levels of tightness in the labor market were finally beginning to ease.”
The ADP’s measure of March private employment came in at 145K which was less than the expected 200K figure.
“Since ADP’s model was rebuilt and relaunched back in August last year, its record in predicting the initial official payroll estimates – the only reason for looking at the ADP numbers – has been poor,” Pantheon Macro said. “The mean difference between the two numbers is an undershoot of 63K, but the spread is huge, from an undershoot of 324K in January – employment at ADP’s client firms seems to be much less weather-sensitive than the official sample – to an overshoot of 33K in December.”
Wall Street also received the ISM services index which came in below the 54.5 consensus marker and in at 51.2.
Looking to individual stocks, FedEx is in focus as it gears up to outline billions in cost savings.
