U.S. stocks closed the first day of June trading in negative territory on Wednesday as the latest economic data gave a mixed signal, which did not help allay investors ’rate fears.
The S&P 500 was down 0.75% to 4,101.23. The Dow Jones fell 0.54% to 32,813.23. The NASDAQ Composite was down 0.72% to 11,994.46, and the small-cap Russell 2000 was down 0.49% to 1,854.82.
U.S. job openings, which help measure labor demand, dropped 455,000 to 11.4 million in April from 11.855 million last month.
Despite the decline, the Department of Labor noted that the numbers remained higher, helped by wage increases as labor shortages weighed on businesses. But it also pushed up inflation.
Meanwhile, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Wednesday expressed her peers ’expectations about raising rates by 50-basis points in the next few central bank policy meetings in a row to lower inflation near appropriate 2% mark.
On Tuesday, the energy and information technology sectors were the top movers in the S&P 500 index. Eight of the index’s 11 sectors remained in the red. Consumer staples and financial segments are the laggards.
The stock of software company Salesforce, Inc. jumped 11.24%. (CRM) after raising the revenue guide in its fiscal year. It dismissed concerns of any material impact from market uncertainties.
Shares of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret rose 9.89% in intraday trading after first -quarter earnings topped Wall Street estimates.
The global technology company HP Inc. (HPQ) rose 4.12% after reporting better-than-expected first quarter results in the extended market session on Tuesday.
In the technology sector, ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW) rose 1.61%, VMWare, Inc. (VMW) was up 1.02%, and Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM) was up 1.09%. Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) and Datadog, Inc. (DDOG) rose 1.54% and 2.21%, respectively
Of the energy stocks, Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) gained 1.99%, ConocoPhillips (COP) added 3.01%, and EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) rose 2.16%. Both Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) and Schlumberger Limited (SLB) advanced 1.61% each.
In the consumer staples sector, The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) was down 1.56%, Walmart Inc. (WMT) fell 2.46%, and Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) fell 1.98%. Unilever PLC (UL) and Diageo plc (DEO) fell 4.30% and 1.84%, respectively.
In the crypto space, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) fell 5.09% and 6.54%, respectively. The global crypto market cap dropped 4.60% to US $ 1.24 trillion at 4:16 pm ET on June 1st.
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Futures and Commodities
Gold futures rose 0.10% to US $ 1,850.20 per ounce. Silver rose 0.81% to US $ 21.863 per ounce, while copper rose 0.72% to US $ 4.3268.
Brent oil futures rose 0.14% to US $ 115.76 per barrel and WTI crude rose 0.13% to US $ 114.82.
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Bond Market
30-year Treasury bond yields rose 0.23% to 3.064, while 10-year bond yields rose 2.49% to 2.915.
The US Dollar Futures Index rose 0.79% to US $ 102,575.
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