The stock market sank more than 1% at midday Thursday, near the day's lows. Bad news for Bed Bath & Beyond and new job-market data contributed to a bearish tone.
The Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 were down 1.2% at noon ET, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was down 1.2% also.
Volume fell on the Nasdaq and the NYSE compared with the same time on Wednesday. Decliners topped advancers by nearly 3-2 on the Nasdaq and NYSE.
ADP Payrolls, Jobless Claims Rattle Stock Market
Stock market futures turned lower after two better-than-expected premarket job reports.
Automatic Data Processing said its computations of payroll data showed an increase of 235,000 jobs in December. That's well above economist forecasts for 145,000 job additions.
Initial claims for jobless benefits fell to 204,000 in the last week of 2022, from 223,000 the previous week, above expectations for 225,000. Taken together, the reports showed a still-firm job market and revived fears of more interest-rate hikes.
Next up, the Labor Department issues its December nonfarm payrolls report on Friday morning. The consensus estimate is for 200,000 job additions, down from 263,000 in November, and an unchanged 3.7% jobless rate.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 3 basis points to 3.74%.
The final S&P Global Services PMI Business Activity Index was 44.7 at the end of the year. That's down from 46.2 in November, but up from the preliminary estimate of 44.4.
Despite weak demand, companies continued to hire, said Siân Jones, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. But the pace of job creation was slight. Some firms are filling temporary and long-held skilled jobs, while others reported layoffs.
Futures: Market Faces Big Test With Jobs Report; Tesla Cuts China Prices
Bed Bath & Beyond, Other Stock Market Movers
In stock market action, Bed Bath & Beyond plunged 23% after the beleaguered retailer said it may file for bankruptcy as it struggles to fund operations.
Shares are now trading under two bucks after a flash rally to 30 in August, when investor Ryan Cohen bought a large position that he quickly dumped. Two years ago, the stock climbed to nearly 54 as the home goods chain became part of the meme-stock frenzy.
Amazon.com fell 1.5% at midday after CEO Andy Jassy confirmed the online retailer and cloud services giant will cut about 18,000 jobs. Most of the cuts will be in Amazon stores and PXT, its People, Experience and Technology business. Jassy cited an uncertain economy and the company's aggressive hiring spree.
Western Digital jumped 6.6% in heavy volume and rose above its 50-day moving average. The company restarted talks to combine with Japan-based Kioxia Holdings, another storage tech company, Bloomberg reported.
Archer Daniels Midland is on track for a third-straight sharp drop, down more than 3% on the day in heavy volume. The agricultural products company is falling below its 200-day moving average this week.
Some oil and gas shipping stocks continued to fall. Dorian LPG lost another 7% and is off 14% this week as it breaks the 10-week moving average.
RPM International plunged more than 12%, gapping down to its 200-day line.
The stock fell more than 8% below its 98.07 buy point from a Nov. 10 breakout, causing a sell signal. The paints and coatings maker slightly missed sales and profit expectations for its November-ended quarter, according to FactSet. RPM also warned that current-quarter sales growth will slow to the low to mid-single digit percentage.
Jabil erased a 12% gain from a breakout at 65.98, which results in a round-trip sell signal for the tech contract manufacturer.
Crypto Woes Continue
CoinDesk, among the slumping crypto-related stocks, tumbled 9% to 34.30. Cowen downgraded the stock from outperform to market perform and set a 36 price target, reports said.
Silvergate Capital, a regional bank that specializes in digital currency customers, plummeted more than 46% in heavy trading. The Wall Street Journal reported the collapse of FTX caused a run on the bank that forced Silvergate to sell assets at a loss to cover billions in withdrawals. The bank has laid off 40% of its staff.
Innovator IBD 50 ETF fell 0.5% to a new 52-week low and the lowest since June 2016.
But Pinduoduo rallied more than 12% to the highest price since October. Chinese stocks extended gains as Covid restrictions continue to fall in that country.
Afya, which was in the IBD 50 as recently as Wednesday, plunged 8.5% in active trading. It has sunk to the lows of a flat base.
