The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% on Wednesday, while the Dow slipped 0.1% from record levels and the Nasdaq rose 0.3%. Early optimism over stronger-than-expected January jobs data faded as selling pressure hit software and other rate-sensitive shares. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 130,000, far above the 55,000 consensus, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.3%. However, the gains were heavily concentrated in health care and prior months’ figures were revised lower, which tempered the market’s enthusiasm. Treasury yields moved sharply higher as investors pushed back expectations for near-term Fed rate cuts, reinforcing a “higher for longer” interest-rate outlook.
AI hardware names were standouts: Micron rallied 9.9%, Lam Research climbed 3.8%, Applied Materials advanced 3.3% and Nvidia added 0.8%. Industrial and electrical equipment stocks also outperformed, with Caterpillar and Eaton each gaining more than 4%. By contrast, software lagged, as Salesforce slid 4.4%, Intuit declined 5.2% and Palantir fell 2.7%. Zillow tumbled 16.5% following its earnings release, underscoring continued fragility among housing-linked technology names.
