US stocks slip; Treasuries gain following lackluster job data
The S&P 500 closed down 0.2% on Wednesday after oscillating between positive and negative territory, as did the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000.
Earlier in the day, the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed a decline in job openings and more layoffs. This made traders anxious about the labor market, and they briefly priced in a 50 basis point cut for September’s Federal Reserve meeting.
Oil extended losses. Treasury yields tumbled. The 10-year Treasury yield declined eight basis points to 3.76%. Earlier, the 10-year Treasury yield was briefly above the two-year one, turning the so-called 2s10s yield curve back to a normal or “uninverted” shape.
S&P sector ETFs were mixed. Utilities led with a 0.9% gain. Conversely, energy retreated 1.4%, the most among all sectors, as all but one energy stocks were down.
Dollar Tree plunged a whopping 22.2% to its lowest price since November 2014 after the discount retailer cut its full-year outlook to reflect softer sales. Last week, rival Dollar General also reported worse-than-expected earnings and slashed its outlook, sending the stock tumbling by more than 25%.
