Investing.com -- The Dow ended lower Thursday as rising Treasury yields to multi-month highs weighed on sentiment ahead of the jobs report due Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, or 67 points, Nasdaq was flat, and the S&P 500 fell 0.3%.
Treasury climb on signs of economic strength ahead of monthly jobs report
The 10-year Treasury yield raced to 4.17%, the highest level since November as data showed a strong labor market and easing wage inflation.
U.S. worker productivity rebounded sharply in the second quarter, while labor costs slowed, stoking further optimism that the easing in inflation seen recently is likely to continue.
Ahead of the monthly jobs report due Friday, investors digested data showing the labor market still remains robust as weekly jobless claims for the week ended July 29 were fewer than expected.
“We expect continued softening [in the labor market],” Morgan Stanley said, forecasting payrolls in July climbed by 190,000, which would mark a second-straight month of slowing job gains.
Tech cut some losses as investors buy dip in chips; Paypal slumps
Tech cut some early-day losses as investors bought the dip in chips from a day earlier, pushing Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) higher to offset losses in Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM).
Qualcomm fell more than 8% after the chipmaker’s gloomy update on guidance for the current quarter and third-quarter revenue that fell short of Wall Street estimates weighed on sentiment.
While Qualcomm’s guidance was in line with estimates, investors were spooked by “management’s soft commentary around its Dec quarter and incremental headwinds in 2024,” Deutsche Bank said as it downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy.
Moderna briefly cheered, PayPal booed on earnings stage
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) lifted its outlook on COVID-19 vaccine sales after reporting quarterly results that weren’t as bad as feared amid a narrower than expected loss in Q2. But its shares gave up gains to end the day just below the flatline as lingering doubts about the runway for COVID sales - at a time when COVID is no longer a global health emergency - kept gains in check.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), meanwhile, reported better-than-expected quarterly results, but underwhelming guidance and doubts about how quickly management can improve margins weighed on the stock. It fell 12%.
Apple, Amazon set for earnings spotlight
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded below the flatline ahead of its quarterly earnings amid fears that iPhone sales likely slowed amid a weaker smartphone market.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), meanwhile, gained slightly, with many investors looking to the e-commerce giant’s quarterly results for an update on the growth of its cloud business Amazon Web Services.
AWS growth is expected to come in at 10.2% for the September quarter, which would mark a slowdown from the 16% pace seen in the prior quarter.