FX.co ★ US Stocks Mixed Ahead of PCE

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow ended Thursday with minimal changes as investors shifted their attention towards the Federal Reserve's upcoming decision and analyzed mixed signals from the US labor market that left the markets largely anticipating a 25-basis-point interest rate decrease. ADP's report revealed an unexpected reduction of approximately 32,000 in private payrolls, while Challenger reported 71,321 announced layoffs in November. This data supported the notion of easing, despite weekly initial unemployment claims falling to around 191,000. Treasury yields rose slightly, with the 10-year yield approaching 4.10%, putting pressure on technology stocks sensitive to interest rates but boosting small-cap stocks. Intel experienced a sharp 7.5% decline, whereas Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet fell by 1.4%, 1.2%, and 0.7% respectively. Conversely, Meta saw a 3.4% increase following speculation about potential spending cuts in its metaverse division. Strong earnings from Salesforce, which rose 3.7%, and a 14% surge from Dollar General contributed to select positives as investors considered higher bond yields and varied corporate news in anticipation of Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report and the following week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.