Description

▸ Wall Street retreats as eco­nomic data sug­gests a weak­en­ing labour mar­ket

▸ Big Tech stocks steady after heavy losses in recent ses­sions

▸ US gov­ern­ment bond prices rise but dol­lar slides against major cur­ren­cies

US stocks slipped yes­ter­day after eco­nomic data sug­ges­ted a weak­en­ing labour mar­ket in the world’s largest eco­nomy.

The blue-chip S&P 500 index was down 0.5 per cent by lunch­time in New York while the tech-heavy Nas­daq Com­pos­ite slipped 0.1 per cent. Both indices remain close to record highs.

Some of the big US tech stocks took a breather after heavy losses in recent days, which began after dis­ap­point­ing earn­ings from Oracle and Broad­com last week. Oracle was up 1.6 per cent and Broad­com rose 0.4 per cent.

Offi­cial data showed that the US unem­ploy­ment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in Novem­ber, the highest level since Septem­ber 2021, and above eco­nom­ists’ expect­a­tions of 4.4 per cent.