The U.S. stock markets closed unevenly on Wednesday. By the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 50,121 points, down 0.1 % from the previous day. The Nasdaq 100 finished the session at 25,201 points, an increase of 0.3 %, while the broader S&P 500 ended at 6,941 points, virtually unchanged.
Job gains in January provided a modest lift for the day. Excluding the agricultural sector, 130,000 new positions were created. The unemployment rate fell a single percentage point, from 4.4 % to 4.3 %.
Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank, highlighted the surprising dynamism of the U.S. labor market in January. He noted that the healthcare and construction sectors added more workers, whereas the public sector and financial industry saw job cuts. Gitzel also pointed out that revisions of prior data often overestimate jobs created by newly founded companies; employment was revised downward by nearly 900,000 positions as of 1 March 2025.
When reflecting on former Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s earlier remarks about downside risks in the U.S. labor market, Gitzel suggested that this new data makes those concerns seem outdated. Nevertheless, Powell is likely to maintain a cautious stance toward further rate cuts, as the January employment numbers do not yet signal a reason for prompt monetary easing.