Wall Street Opens Mixed Following US Economic Data

Wall Street’s main indexes were mixed on Thursday after data showed strong service activity in the world’s largest economy, while cautious investors watched for any escalation in the Middle East conflict.

The benchmark S&P 500 pared losses after the Institute for Supply Management survey showed service sector activity, which makes up the majority of the US economy, stood at 54.9 in September, compared with an estimate of 51.7.

However, separate data showed weekly jobless claims rose marginally last week. Next up is Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for September.
Odds of a 25-basis-point cut at the Federal Reserve’s November meeting now stand at 64.9%, up from 50.7% a week ago, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 137.01 points, or 0.32%, to 42,059.51, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 5.62 points, or 0.10%, to 5,716.01, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 83.86 points, or 0.45%, to 18,006.65.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors opened lower. However, infotech shares (.SPLRCT), were the biggest gainers, with a 1.3% rise.

Rate-sensitive heavyweights were mixed, with Amazon.com (AMZN.O) down 0.8%, Apple (AAPL.O) losing 0.1%, while Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 4.5%.

Yields on two-year and 10-year Treasury bonds , inched higher and were last up 3.68% and 3.8%, respectively.

Investors have been wary over the last two sessions as they contemplated the scale of Israel and the United States’ response to Iran’s recent attack on Israel. The CBOE volatility index, Wall Street’s fear gauge (.VIX) hovered at more than three-week highs at 19.22.