The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index fell for a third straight day on Wednesday as market participants anxiously awaited November's "official" jobs report due out later this week. The Dow slipped 70 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost roughly 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Wednesday's market was initially positive following data from ADP that showed the continuously tight labor market is beginning to ease in response to the Federal Reserve's high interest rates. U.S. private payrolls rose by 103,000 in November, according to the firm, below October's downwardly revised print of 106,000 and economists estimates for the month.
November's weaker jobs report follows Labor Department data that showed job openings decline to 8.73 million in October, marking the lowest level for the measure since 2021. Moreover, labor costs declined at a more-than-expected rate as productivity showed gains in the third-quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Unit labor costs, which measure wages to output, fell 1.2% during the quarter, more than the initial -0.8% estimate from last month, while productive, measured by output per hour, rose higher by 5.2% for the same period, above the previous estimates of 4.7%.
These three softening labor market reports come ahead of the month's "official" reading on non-farm payrolls, unemployment rate and wages due out Friday morning.
On the earnings front, Box
In single-stock news, Apple
McDonald's
Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase
"I've always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin ... the only true case for it is criminals, drug traffickers .. money laundering, tax avoidance," Dimon said. "If I was the government, I'd close it down."
For Thursday, investors will look towards the Labor Department's reading on weekly unemployment claims for more clues on the health of the job market, as well as earnings reports from companies including Chewy