Wal-Mart Stores and American Express weighed on the blue-chip benchmark
U.S. stocks finished on flat and mixed note on Thursday, 06 October 2016. Investors abstained from making big bets ahead of Friday's much-anticipated September jobs report. Stocks sold off in early trade, but the market recouped much of its losses after a high-ranking European Central Bank official repudiated reports that the central bank had discussed tapering its bond-buying program.Aside from central bank policies and economic data, earnings are looming as an important market driver.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 12.53 points to finish at 18,268.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 9.17 points, or 0.2%, to close at 5,306.85, pressured by losses in biotechs. The S&P 500 index edged up 1.04 points to close at 2,160.77, with the materials sector topping the gains.
Sharp losses in Wal-Mart Stores and American Express weighed on the blue-chip benchmark. Wal-Mart Stores shares fell 3.2% after the retailer provided a lackluster outlook for 2017 at an investor meeting. Wal-Mart is a component of both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials.
Trading was generally tepid as investors awaited Friday's jobs data, which will help them gauge the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the end of 2016. Ahead of the jobs report, Thursday's weekly jobless claims report pointed to extremely low levels of layoffs, suggesting that employers are reluctant to part with workers in a tight market.
Meanwhile, ECB Vice President Victor Constancio reportedly said there is no consensus to wind down bond purchases. There were earlier reports this week that bank officials had reached an informal consensus to taper the ECB's quantitative-easing efforts sooner than expected. The denial from the ECB is in keeping with market expectations that the ECB is reluctant to exit its quantitative-easing program and that it is more inclined to extend its loose monetary policy stance beyond March.
Mr. Constancio briefly rallied global bond markets when he denied reports from earlier in the week that suggested the central bank has held discussions about tapering its asset purchase program. That headline boost proved to be short-lived, however, as Treasury prices soon started to fade again, pushing yields back up.
Today's economic data was limited to Challenger Job Cuts for September and weekly initial claims. September Challenger Job Cuts reported in at 44,300, which compares to the prior month's reading of 32,200. For the week ending 1 October, initial claims decreased by 5,000 to 249,000 (consensus 258,000). Continuing claims for the week ending September 24 fell by 6,000 to 2.058 million. Economic data showed that the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits fell by 5,000 to 249,000 in the final week of September, which bodes well for a strong payrolls number.
The yield on the benchmark 10-yr note, which slipped back to 1.71% after the Constancio headline first hit, finished higher by four basis points at 1.74%.
Third-quarter earnings season will kick off unofficially on Tuesday with Alcoa's results.
Oil futures continued to climb, trading above $50 a barrel for the first time in four months. Gold futures retreated as a key dollar index gained. European stocks fell while Asian markets closed higher.
Today's participation was below the recent average as more than 796 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Tomorrow's economic data will include the 8:30 a.m. ET release of the Employment Situation Report for September. The consensus expects the report to show an increase of 176,000 in nonfarm payrolls. Meanwhile, August Wholesale Inventories (consensus -0.1%) and August Consumer Credit (consensus$18.0 billion) will cross the wires at 10:00 a.m ET and 3:00 p.m. ET, respectively.
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