US stocks closed mixed on Tuesday as investors digested fresh jobs data and new Fedspeak regarding the path forward for interest rates.
The S&P 500 (
^GSPC
) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (
^IXIC
) each claimed new records after finishing the session up about 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (
^DJI
) recovered from session lows but still closed down nearly 0.2%.
Job openings in October rose by 372,000 to 7.74 million compared to estimates of 7.52 million,
according to BLS data released on Tuesday
.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also showed fewer hires were made during the month while the quits rate, a sign of confidence among workers, rose to 2.1% from 1.9% in September.
The JOLTS data serves as the first in a
wave of key signals this week
that culminates in Friday's all-important monthly US payrolls report.
Also on Tuesday, policymakers Mary Daly, Austan Goolsbee, and Adriana Kugler suggested rates will continue to fall as the central bank brings policy closer
"to a more neutral setting."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak on Wednesday.
Treasury yields rose following the comments with the yield on the 10-year note (
^TNX
) inching up about 3 basis points to trade near 4.22%.
Traders are now pricing in about a 72% chance that the Fed lowers rates by a quarter percentage point at its Dec. 18 meeting, compared with 62% a day ago, per the
CME FedWatch tool
.
Meanwhile, shares in US Steel (
X
) fell about 8% on the heels of President-elect Donald
Trump's promise to "block"
its $15 billion takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel (
5401.T
,
NPSCY
). Trump said tax incentives
and tariffs
will enable the American steel giant to thrive on its own.
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