Wall St slips as upbeat data sparks uncertainty on Fed’s easing cycle

NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Tuesday, weighed down by technology stocks after a batch of upbeat economic data stoked uncertainty among investors about the pace of monetary policy easing that the Federal Reserve could pursue this year.

A Labor Department report showed job openings stood at 8.098 million in November, compared with 7.7 million economists polled by Reuters were expecting.

Separately, an ISM survey showed services activity for December stood in expansion territory at 54.1, compared with expectations of 53.3. The index also ticked higher from the previous month’s figure.

Signs of continued resilience in the economy have pushed back expectations on when the central bank can deliver its first interest rate cut this year, with traders betting on the move to come in June, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

At 10:16 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 69.82 points, or 0.17%, to 42,636.74, the S&P 500 lost 24.88 points, or 0.42%, to 5,950.50 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 154.71 points, or 0.80%, to 19,710.27.

Pressuring stocks, yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.677% - its highest level since May 2024.

Rate-sensitive sectors such as financials and real estate dipped, while technology stocks dropped 0.8%. AI-bellwether Nvidia fell 2.6%.

The main focus of the week is the key non-farm payrolls data, along with minutes from the Fed’s December meeting expected later in the week.

Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, said he expects the central bank to be on hold and start cutting rates again when payrolls begin to decline a little bit which would then alleviate some of the inflation pressure.

In the previous session, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed short of one-week highs on uncertainty after President-elect Donald Trump denied a report that his team was exploring less aggressive tariff policies.

Analysts have said Trump’s campaign pledges such as tax cuts, tariffs and loose regulation if implemented could invigorate the economy, although it could increase inflation and slow the pace of rate cuts. His tariff plans if acted upon could also spark a trade war among the country’s top partners.

On the flip side, healthcare stocks led gains among S&P 500 sectors with a 1% rise. Vaccine makers such as Moderna Novavax and Pfizer surged on growing concerns around bird flu.

Tesla dropped 2.9% after BofA Global Research downgraded the stock to “neutral” from “buy” and weighed on the consumer discretionary sector.

Micron Technology rose 5% after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said the chipmaker was providing memory for the AI-bellwether’s GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell family of gaming chips.

Big banks such as Citigroup added 0.3% on bullish coverage from Truist Securities, while Bank of America climbed 0.6% after positive ratings from at least three brokerages.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.62-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted seven new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 37 new highs and 27 new lows.