The stock market was mixed on Wednesday after the latest labor market update came in below expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 38 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 was down 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3%.
Though the Dow was up, it benefitted by most of its largest stocks, such as UnitedHealth Group, posting solid gains. More than half of its members were down on the day.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell to a one-year low at 3.769%. The 10-year yield was also at a one-year low at 3.768%. The yield curve briefly un-inverted this morning, but the 2-year yield finished the day 0.002 percentage point higher than the 10-year yield.
That’s the least inverted the yield curve has been at 3 p.m. since the 2-year yield surpassed the 10-year in July 2022.
The Labor Department said the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey clocked in at 7.7 million job openings in July, which was below expectations at 8.1 million. Stocks were directionless for much of the afternoon.
Wall Street is waiting for Friday’s jobs report for more insight into how the labor market is really holding up. A “too-cold” report would send recession fears spiking and stocks spiraling.
On the flip side, a resilient report would give the major indexes some breathing room. Ultimately, the stock market’s rally will need a soft landing for the economy to keep rolling through the end of the year. That’ll be the tricky part.