Wall St mixed as positive jobs data offsets bond rout

Wall Street was mixed in choppy trading early on Thursday as better-than-expected U.S. jobs data led to U.S. Treasuries trimming their gains, giving the markets some relief from the rout in global bond markets.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, staying near a 15-year low in a sign that the labor market continues to strengthen despite moderate economic growth.

The data also pushed the dollar to its session high.

Earlier, a sell-off in bonds and the dollar had led most global markets lower.

The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates at any meeting, including in June, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told CNBC, leaving investors guessing on when rates would be hiked.

 

"After years of over wading in fixed income, a lot of bonds investors are starting to take stock and pulling back in advance of these shifting policy moves," said Andrew Barber, chief market strategist at Eagleview Capital in Delaware.

U.S. private employers added far fewer jobs last month than economists expected, posing a downside risk for the more comprehensive nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday.

"We're in a market where bad news maybe good news," Barber said, regarding the possibility of weak employment data.

At 10:03 a.m. EDT (1403 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 28.76 points, or 0.16 percent, at 17,813.22, the S&P 500 was down 3.93 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,076.22 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 3.02 points, or 0.06 percent, at 4,916.63.

A majority of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were negative with the S&P Energy Index, which was down 1.2 percent, being the biggest drag.

Alibaba's shares jumped 6.9 percent to $85.50 as the Chinese e-commerce giant reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue. Yahoo rose 5.8 percent to $44.06.

Tesla was down 1.7 percent at $226.56 after it reported a wider quarterly loss and said the strong dollar would crimp gross margins.

Whole Foods slid 11.1 percent to $42.44 after reporting a slowdown in quarterly same-store sales growth.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,722 to 1,090, for a 1.58-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,422 issues fell and 930 advanced for a 1.53-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 2 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 25 new highs and 35 new lows.