Dow gains; S&P 500~flat; Nasdaq dips
Energy leads S&P 500 sector gainers; Tech weakest group
Dollar, gold advance; crude surges >4.5%; bitcoin ~flat
US 10-Year Treasury yield rises to ~4.18%
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YOUR THURSDAY WRAP-UP: THE NASDAQ-DOW SEESAW
The Nasdaq and the Dow traded places on Thursday, with the former losing ground and the latter going green in a photo negative of Wednesday's session.
The benchmark S&P 500 generally took the middle ground, ending the day essentially unchanged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 270.03 points, or 0.55%, to 49,266.11, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.53 points, or 0.01%, to 6,921.46 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 104.26 points, or 0.44%, to 23,480.02.
Energy .SPNY basked in the glow of heated geopolitical tensions emanating from U.S. actions against Venezuela even as the U.S. Senate voted to curb military action in the oil-rich nation.
Simultaneously, President Donald Trump warned U.S. oversight there could last years as he nailed down plans to meet with oil company executives on Friday.
Housing .HGX and homebuilding stocks .SPCOMHOME rebounded sharply after Wednesday's rout, which was prompted by Trump's announcement that he would ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes in an effort to contain housing prices. The indexes gained 3.4% and 4.3%, respectively, handily outperforming the broader market.
On the losing end, tech .SPLRCT in general and chips .SOX in particular slid on renewed jitters over inflated valuations of artificial intelligence-related shares. Nvidia NVDA.O, Broadcom AVGO.O and Microsoft MSFT.O lost between 1.1% and 3.2%.
On the economic front, an unforeseen jump in productivity and an unexpected drop in labor costs sound like good news until you read Challenger, Gray & Christmas' annual review of planned layoffs, which cited AI as the third biggest reason cited by corporate America for job cuts (after DOGE and tariff-related reasons).
Investors now turn their gaze to the Labor Department's December employment report, due for an early Friday unveiling. Analysts are expecting a tepid gain of 60,000 jobs, a downtick in the unemployment rate to 4.5% from 4.6% and average hourly wage growth heating up to 0.3% and 3.6% on monthly and annual bases, respectively.
A stale housing starts/building permits release is also on the docket, as is the University of Michigan's first stab at January consumer sentiment.
Here's your closing snapshot:
(Stephen Culp)
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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:
STIRRING THE NEW FED CHAIR STEW, BUT WHAT ELSE MIGHT BE COOKING THERE? CLICK HERE
RETAIL TRADERS KICK-OFF THE YEAR WITH A BANG, ENERGY COMPANIES IN VOGUE CLICK HERE
SURPRISE PARTY: JOBLESS CLAIMS, LAYOFFS, PRODUCTIVITY, TRADE BALANCE CLICK HERE
MAIN US INDEXES RETREAT AS THE MARKET PLAYS DEFENSE CLICK HERE
BENCHMARK TREASURY YIELD: PRESSURE IN THE PIPE CLICK HERE
MIXED REPORTING SEASON AHEAD FOR EUROPEAN PHARMA CLICK HERE
THE BCOM INDEX REBALANCE COULD SPELL BAD NEWS FOR GOLD CLICK HERE
TAKING A BREATHER CLICK HERE
EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: PULLBACK SET TO CONTINUE CLICK HERE
TRUMP'S BIG TALK FALLS ON INVESTORS' DEAF EARS CLICK HERE
Closing snapshot https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/zdpxjgkqrpx/closer.png
