NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were little changed early Wednesday as US data showed modestly lower private-sector hiring in November and markets absorbed recent records.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare alluded to fatigue among investors after Senate passage of a long-awaited US tax cut plan sparked records last week.
“The stock market has been unable to hold on to bigger gains, suggesting to some that the buying efforts related to tax reform optimism have been exhausted,” O’Hare said.
Investors are now eyeing negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the sweeping tax overhaul as a source of uncertainty over exactly what the final bill will contain.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,196.33, up 0.1 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 was down a hair to 2,629.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained less than 0.1 percent to 6,764.17.
US companies increased employment by 190,000 in November, cooling from the blistering 235,000 pace in the prior month, according to private payrolls firm ADP, a report watched for signals about the key government jobs report due out Friday.
Dow member Home Depot dipped 0.9 percent despite announcing a new $15 billion share repurchase program as it updated its medium-term financial targets ahead of an investor day.
Source: Brecorder.com
