U.S. Stocks Are Mixed After Job Openings Data

Text size

U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday, after the latest U.S. jobs data hit the wires.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

dropped 63 points, or 0.2%, while the

S&P 500

fell 0.1% and the

Nasdaq Composite

advanced 0.3%. 

In Asia, Tokyo’s

Nikkei 225

fell 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s

Hang Seng

was little changed. The

Shanghai Composite

was 0.5% lower. The

FTSE 100

in London rose 0.5%, as the

CAC 40

in Paris lifted 0.4% and Frankfurt’s

DAX

was flat.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed 9.3 million openings for April, higher than the expected 8.2 million. More openings means higher demand for workers, which could potentially bring higher wages and therefore force companies to raise prices. Investors, though, have already digested the upward pressure on wages, as Friday’s employment report revealed as much.

Mark Haefele, the chief investment officer of Swiss bank UBS’ global wealth management division, said that while the bank remains alert to inflation risks, “we believe the backdrop remains benign for stocks—with benefits most obvious for cyclical parts of the market, including energy and financials. We recently raised the highly cyclical Japanese market to most preferred in our global strategy.”

UBS

said that it views global stocks trading at all-time highs as justified, based on strong economic data, including a recovery in global corporate earnings, and sentiment from policy makers to let the economy run hot.

The price of oil was down slightly, with benchmark Brent crude futures having fallen around 0.3% to around $71.25 a barrel.

Cryptocurrency asset Bitcoin was down near 5%, to below the $33,000 mark, from above $35,000 on Monday.

Marvell Technology

 (ticker: MRVL) stock rose 5.3% after reporting a profit of 29 cents a share, beating forecasts for 27 cents a share, on sales of $832 million, above expectations for $805 million.

Wendy’s

 (WEN) stock rose 12.9% and may be a newly popular “meme stock.” 

Target

 (TGT) stock added 1.4% after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS. 

Delta Air Lines

 (DAL) stock gained 2.1% after getting upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies. 

EOG Resources

 (EOG) stock dropped 1% after getting downgraded to Hold from Accumulate at Johnson Rice. 

Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com