After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks have given back ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages have pulled back off their highs of the session and have recently been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the S&P 500 is up 12.88 points or 0.2 percent at 6,954.69, the Dow is down 19.63 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 50,168.53 and the Nasdaq is down 12.67 points or 0.1 percent at 23,089.80.
The early strength on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of January.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 130,000 jobs in January after rising by a downwardly revised 48,000 jobs in December.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 70,000 jobs compared to the addition of 50,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3 percent in January from 4.4 percent in December, while economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
However, the report also showed a significant downward revision to job growth in 2025, with the increase in employment revised to 181,000 jobs from 584,000 jobs.
“One big takeaway from today’s nonfarm payroll report is the 2025 average monthly gain in payrolls was 15,000,” said Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial. “Labor demand came to a standstill last year.”
The stronger-than-expected job growth in January may also have reduced the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, offsetting the initial positive reaction.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release a separate report on consumer price inflation that may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.
Sector News
Energy stocks are seeing substantial strength amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index surging by 2.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
Significant strength is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Computer hardware, steel and natural gas stocks also saw seeing considerable strength, while software, brokerage and biotechnology stocks have shown notable moves to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Wednesday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside in reaction to the monthly jobs data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.5 basis points at 4.172 percent.
U.S. Stocks Give Back Ground After Early Advance
2026-02-11 16:32:42
