By Johann M Cherian, Sukriti Gupta and Carolina Mandl
(Reuters) -U.S. stocks ended little changed on Wednesday in a session they struggled for a clear direction, as investors digested the impact of two conflicting sets of jobs data and a report that said President-elect Donald Trump was mulling a national economic emergency declaration on inflation.
"Inflation is the wild card in 2025. There are lots of things that potentially have the risk to shift inflation back upward," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz (ETR:ALVG) Investment Management.
The minutes of the Federal Reserve's Dec. 17-18 meeting showed on Wednesday that officials saw a rising risk that price pressures may remain sticky as policymakers began wrestling with the impact of policies expected from the incoming Trump administration.
Market sentiment was fragile after a CNN report said Trump was mulling building the new tariff program by using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which authorizes a president to manage imports during a national emergency.
Benchmark 10-year yields peaked at 4.73%, the highest since April 25, to retreat slightly to 4.677% later in the afternoon.
Ahead of Trump taking office later in the month, concerns about potential surcharges on U.S. trade partners have kept investors on edge as Trump's policies, including mass deportations and tariffs, could stoke inflation pressures.
"If wider tariffs are implemented it could have a short-term impact on inflation," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. "The Fed will sit back and see if he (Trump) does enact punitive tariffs and if he does, how much of that potential inflationary impact will be offset by the cuts in government spending."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 106.84 points, or 0.25%, to 42,635.20, the S&P 500 gained 9.20 points, or 0.16%, to 5,918.23 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 10.80 points, or 0.06%, to 19,478.88.
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors posted gains, led by the healthcare index up 0.53%.
The Russell 200 Index tracking domestically focused small-cap companies dropped 0.52%.
Megacaps were mixed with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 0.52%, while Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta fell 0.79% and 1.16%, respectively.
Investors also assessed an ADP National Employment Report that showed private payrolls growth slowed sharply in December, although a separate Labor Department report said jobless claims for the previous week fell.
On Friday, the government publishes its closely watched employment report for December.
The Fed has stayed put on interest rates, and traders now expect the first trim this year in either May or June, according to the CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch Tool.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said inflation should continue falling in 2025 and allow the central bank to further reduce interest rates, though at an uncertain pace.
EBay rose 9.86% after Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) said it will launch a test showing the e-commerce firm's listings on Facebook Marketplace.
Edison International (NYSE:EIX) dropped 10.18%. Its Californian subsidiary cut power to customers to prevent damage to distribution lines from a wildfire.
Quantum-computing stocks Rigetti Computing and IonQ plunged over 40%, while Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Computing was down 39% after Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) boss Jensen Huang said computers based on the emerging technology are as much as 30 years away.
Markets will be closed on Thursday for a national day of mourning to mark the death of former President Jimmy Carter.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.98-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 29 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 42 new highs and 116 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.86 billion shares, compared with the 12.29 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.