US stocks flat after lackluster jobs data

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were little changed early Tuesday as markets absorbed US data pointing to a slower employment market, while Ford advanced despite announcing a $19.5 billion cost hit.

The US unemployment rate climbed to 4.6 percent in November from 4.4 percent in September. The US economy lost 105,000 jobs in October but gained 64,000 in November.

The data is the latest sign of a weakening job market.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 48,407.44.

The broad-based S&P 500 was also unchanged at 6,815.34, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.2 percent to 23,093.20.

Wall St indexes subdued as investors position for busy week of data

While the job figures were lackluster, they probably aren’t bad enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in January, said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.

“The problem with these numbers to some extent is that they are not good, but not bad enough to get the Fed to move particularly quickly,” Sosnick said.

Among individual companies, Ford rose 1.7 percent despite announcing a $19.5 billion write down over several years as it cancels some electric vehicle projects and pivots toward hybrids, gas-powered trucks and a new battery storage business.

“There is a lot to digest,” UBS analysts said of Ford. “Net, we see this as a bold action and write down that likely removes years of future losses.”

Pfizer dropped 3.2 percent as it released 2026 revenue forecasts that showed further erosion of Covid-19 related products and the loss of exclusivity in some pharmaceuticals.