Stock market today: Indexes trade mixed after hitting records as traders eye upcoming jobs report
Applicants line up at a job fair at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City N.J., on April 11, 2022.
Indexes traded mixed on Thursday after hitting record highs on Wednesday as traders turned their focus to the upcoming November jobs report.
The data, due from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning, is expected to show the US economy added 215,000 new hires, according to data from FactSet.
That’s a sharp uptick from October’s reading of just 12,000 new hires, with the stark downtick resulting from the month’s hurricanes and labor strikes.
“We recommend market participants tread carefully,” Bank of America analysts said in a note earlier this week. “We suggest taking the first print with a pinch of salt and putting more faith in the first and second revision when more data has been collected.”
Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 6,085.03, down 0.02%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 44,927.23, down 0.19% (-86.81 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 19,766.26, up 0.14%
Bitcoin hit an important milestone on Wednesday night, crossing the key $100,000 threshold for the first time. The latest uptick came after President-elect Donald Trump appointed crypto advocate Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler to run the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The coin is now trading at $102,350.90 as of Thursday morning, while crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy and Coinbase have also benefited from the latest move higher.
The currency has skyrocketed in recent weeks amid expectations that Trump will loosen regulations and pursue policies to boost the market, such as establishing a national bitcoin reserve.
Traders also continue to digest comments from members of the Federal Reserve, including Chair Jerome Powell, who spoke at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday.
Relevant to bitcoin, the Fed chief said that while the token isn’t a competitor to the dollar, it’s a digital version of gold.
Powell also appeared optimistic about the strength of the US economy, pointing to healthy growth but increased caution when it comes to cutting interest rates.
“Growth is definitely stronger than we thought, and inflation is coming a little higher,” Powell said, adding, “The good news is that we can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find neutral.”
Here’s what else is happening:
- Crypto trading volume topped $10 trillion for the first time ever in November on election bullishness
- BlackRock is turning even more bullish on US stocks for next year
- Vladimir Putin says bitcoin could be a useful asset as Russia’s reserves remain frozen
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil ticked higher 0.6% to $68.92 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.5% to $72.67 a barrel.
- Gold edged down to $2,670 an ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield was up two basis points to 4.205%.
- Bitcoin was up 7% to trade at $103,451.
