The New York Stock Exchange was indecisive Monday for the first time since a turbulent start to the year after a week of gains for the index.
Around 3:00pm GMT, the Dow Jones opened 0.08% lower, the Nasdaq gained 0.86% and the S&P 500 gained 0.13%.
U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones closing up 0.06% to 35,089.74, the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 1.58% to 14,098.00, and the S&P 500 up 0.52% to 4,500.53.
For the week, the indexes rose for the first time since 2022: The Dow gained 1.05%, the Nasdaq gained 2.38% and the broader S&P 500 gained 1.55%.
But they are far from regaining the ground they lost since the beginning of the year: The All-Star Index has lost 3.44% since 2022, the Nasdaq is close to a correction with a 9.89% loss, and the S&P 500 is down 5.57%.
Good U.S. jobs data for January on Friday pushed bond yields higher.
About 467,000 jobs were created last month, more than triple what economists had forecast (150,000), while December was revised up sharply (510,000 instead of 199,000 previously estimated).
Faced with this strength in the job market, investors are now worried that the U.S. central bank (Fed) will take a more aggressive stance on inflation.
For LBBW’s Karl Haeling, “five rate hikes will be fully priced in from now on”.
In addition, Haeling said that according to fed funds futures, investors are 50% betting that the Fed will raise interest rates by half a basis point (0.50%).
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was back at a more than two-year high hit on Friday at 1.93%.
At the same time, the dynamism of the labor market has reassured investors as it removes the risk of a recession that could result from tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
“This reduces concerns about the Fed’s policy mistakes (…) and further boosts the stock market,” Karl Heiling said.
Few economic indicators were on the menu at the start of the week, but inflation will be back in focus on Thursday with the release of January’s CPI consumer price index.
Analysts expect monthly growth of 0.5%, the highest inflation rate in 40 years, in line with December’s 7%.
In terms of quarterly results, expect big names like Disney, Uber, Pfizer or Coca-Cola to emerge in the next few days.
In terms of odds, low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, valued at $6.6 billion after announcing a merger with Frontier Airlines, surged 15.51% to $25.08.
Under the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2022, Frontier Airlines will control 51.5% of the new entity and Spirit will own the remaining 48.5%.
Frontier Group, the parent company of Frontier Airlines, rose 2.91 percent to $12.75.
Shares of smart exercise bike maker Peloton, whose shares have fallen in recent months, rose 27.11 percent to $31.33.
The market is awash in talks to buy the company, whose title was worth $150 a year ago.
Shares of toy maker Hasbro were volatile after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and profit. The headline was down 2.81% at $91.19 at 3:00pm GMT before the market opened.
U.S. dating site Bumble is in demand after its acquisition with French startup Fruitz (+3.62% to $28.66).