NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mixed on Tuesday after a report suggested the job market is cooling, which could make the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street desires so much more likely.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2% in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 4 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 12:50 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields slid after the report showed U.S. employers were advertising fewer job openings at the end of April than economists expected.
U.S. job openings fell in April to the lowest level since 2021, though they remained at historically strong levels. The drop surprised economists, who expected a slight increase in job openings. A strong job market helped support consumer spending and the broader economy, amid pressure from inflation and high interest rates.
Wall Street actually wants the economy to slow because that could get inflation under control and convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which would ease the pressure on financial markets. The question is whether the slowdown overshoots and ends up in a painful recession.
A report on Monday showing U.S. manufacturing contracted in May for the 18th time in 19 months sent Treasury yields sliding at the start of the week on expectations that it could tilt conditions toward cutting rates. But the weak data also raised worries about profits for companies that most depend on a strong economy.
The price of crude oil in particular has slid on worries that a slower economy would mean less growth in demand for fuel. A barrel of U.S. crude dropped 1.3% Tuesday to bring its loss for the week to more than 5%. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.1%.
That sent oil-and-gas stocks to some of the market's worst losses for a second straight day. Exxon Mobil dropped 2.2%, and Diamondback Energy fell 2.1%.
Such companies are often called “cyclical” because their profits tend to rise and fall with the cycle of the economy. But the manufacturing data “may be more noise than signal,” according to Barclays strategists Anshul Gupta and Stefano Pascale. Over the last two years, they say the relationship has broken down between surprises in the manufacturing data and the relative performance of cyclical stocks against the rest of the market.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Bath & Body Works tumbled 12.4% despite topping expectations for revenue and profit in the latest quarter.
Designer Brands, the owner of Designer Shoe Warehouse store chain, dropped 21.7% after its first-quarter profit came in below analyst forecasts.
GameStop also gave back some of its big gain from the day before, when euphoria broke out after a central character in stock's epic 2021 run returned to say he had built a stake in the video-game retailer. It dropped 4.6%.
On the winning side of Wall Street were stocks of several companies that stand to benefit if oil prices keep dropping. Trucking company Old Dominion Freight Line jumped 3.1% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. Cruise-ship operator Carnival rose 4.6%, and American Airlines Group flew 0.5% higher.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 4.33% from 4.39% late Monday and 4.50% late Friday. It had been above 4.60% recently.
The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 4.77% from 4.81%.
In stock markets abroad, India’s Sensex dropped 5.7% a day after jumping 3.4% following the country's elections.
Indexes were mixed across the rest of Asia and lower across much of Europe.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
