US stocks rebounded in a troubled session and ended the day lower as traders digested the latest job data and continued to weigh the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike, which would hike rates faster than expected to cool inflation.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a speech the first rate hike could come in March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 170 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 0.10% and 0.13%, respectively. Both cushioned the majority of the losses during the session.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE VALUES | 35957.79 | -273.87 | -0.76% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4652.41 | -24.62 | -0.53% |
| Me: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 14876.451042 | -59.45 | -0.40% |
Humana fell after cutting its outlook for Medicare inclusion, United Health fell into sympathy. Travelers and Disney saw gains.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TO HUM | HUMANA INC. | 384.43 | +21.29 | + 5.86% |
| UNH | UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC. | 464.93 | +6.32 | +1.38% |
| TRV | THE TRAVELERS COS. INC. | 163.38 | -2.90 | -1.74% |
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 156.30 | -1.61 | -1.02% |
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Oil briefly hit the $ 80 a barrel mark, which gave ExxonMobil and Chevron a boost.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USE | UNITED STATES OIL FUND LP | 56.11 | -0.56 | -0.99% |
| XOM | EXXON MOBIL CORP. | 68.30 | -0.58 | -0.84% |
| CVX | CHEVRON CORP. | 124.57 | -0.47 | -0.38% |
FED EYES FASTER INTEREST RATE RISE, BALANCE SHEET REDUCTION AS INFLATION RISES
In the economic calendar, weekly jobless claims rose by 207,000, above the 195,000 estimates and slightly above the previous week’s 198,000.
On Friday, U.S. employers reportedly created 400,000 new non-farm jobs last month, nearly double the much weaker-than-expected number of 210,000 in November. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 4.1%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, a benchmark for setting interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 1.76%.
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS BURNING EXPECTATIONS IN DECEMBER, SAYS ADP
For stocks, Facebook bucked continued sales among large-cap tech players like Google, Amazon, and Apple.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FB | META PLATFORMS INC. | 331.79 | -0.67 | -0.20% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 3,251.08 | -14.00 | -0.43% |
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 172.17 | +0.17 | + 0.10% |
| GoogL | ALPHABET INC. | 2,740.34 | -14.61 | -0.53% |
Bed Bath & Beyond continues to struggle with the turnaround. Comp sales were down 7% in the most recent quarter. Even so, the shares rose.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBBY | BED BATH & BEYOND INC. | 13.80 | -0.63 | -4.37% |
Elsewhere in retail, Walgreen has raised its forecast for the year as it benefits from COVID-19 vaccines and home test kit sales.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WBA | WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE INC. | 53.84 | +1.40 | + 2.67% |
| CVS | CVS HEALTH CORP. | 104.19 | +1.60 | + 1.56% |
Ford and GM stocks made up for losses from the previous session.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM | GENERAL MOTORS CO. | 60.94 | -1.33 | -2.14% |
| F. | FORD MOTOR CO. | 23.77 | -0.67 | -2.72% |
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin slipped to the $ 42,000 level before climbing higher.
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Ken Martin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
