Wall Street drifts from losses to gains amid more dour data

Stocks are swinging up and down in morning trading on Wall Street Wednesday, as depressing data on the economy continues to roll in.

Technology stocks keep pushing higher, with Microsoft, Apple and other giants continuing their nearly unstoppable run even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

That helped offset losses elsewhere in the market, and the S&P 500 was up 0.2 per cent, as of 11:13 a.m. Eastern time. Earlier, it had erased a gain of 0.8 per cent to swing to a loss of 0.4 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 23,886. The Nasdaq, which is full of tech stocks, was up 1.3 per cent. European and Asian markets were mixed.

A report Wednesday morning said private U.S. employers cut an astonishing 20.2 million more jobs than they created last month. It sets a dour stage for Friday's more comprehensive jobs report from the U.S. government.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union said Wednesday that it's bracing for a recession of historic proportions this year due to widespread restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Financial stocks were the biggest weight on the U.S. stock market, with JPMorgan Chase down 1.4 per cent and Wells Fargo down 1.9 per cent. Banks have been some of the hardest-hit stocks this year on worries that all the job losses created by the recession will saddle them with mountains of bad loans.