Stocks slip as investors weigh corporate earnings, jobs data

SINGAPORE — Stocks fell on Wall Street in morning trading on Wednesday as investors weighed another batch of corporate earnings and economic data that could shed more light on how the economic recovery is going.

The S&P 500 index fell 0.2% as of 10:14 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points, or 0.4%, to 34,890 and the Nasdaq rose less than 0.1%.

Crude oil prices fell more than 3% and pushed energy companies lower. Retailers, hotels and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending also fell.

The yield on the 10-year rose to 1.18% from 1.17% late Wednesday.

Payroll processor ADP revealed a disappointing snapshot of the nation’s employment recovery, adding to concerns about the lagging recovery in the jobs market. ADP said the private sector added 330,000 jobs in July, falling far short of economists’ expectations. The report comes ahead of the Labor Department’s more comprehensive July jobs report on Friday.

The resurgence of COVID-19 with the highly contagious delta variant in spots around the world is also a key concern for Wall Street. China’s worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic a year and a half ago escalated Wednesday with dozens more cases around the country and the sealing-off of one city.

Investors are also still in the thick of corporate earnings season. The results have been solid so far. Roughly 75% of companies in the S&P 500 have turned in their earnings and the majority have been surprisingly good.

Strong profit and revenue results weren’t enough to lift stocks for many companies on Wednesday, however. General Motors fell 7.5% despite overcoming an industry-wide chip shortage to beat analysts’ profit expectations and raise its forecast. CVS Health slipped 1.9% after also reporting solid results.

Ticket seller and concert promoter Live Nation rose 3.9% after reporting surprisingly mild second-quarter loss.

Online broker Robinhood surged 31%.