US open: Stocks trade mixed despite much better-than-expected December jobs data

Trading on Wall Street got off to a mixed start on Wednesday despite the release of jobs data pointing to the possibility of a far better-than-expected non-farm payrolls report in two days' time.

As at 1608 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrials was adding 0.17% or 59.63 points to 36,855.38, albeit alongside a 0.78% or 123.74 point drop for the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite to 15,494.19.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was at a session-high of 1.668%, trading up almost two basis points. Front-dated West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were up 1.72% to $78.31 a barrel on the NYMEX, boosted by government data showing a decline in US oil inventories over the past week.

Investors had expected the Omicron variant of Covid-19 to possibly keep a bit of a lid on hiring in December, but at the very least, the latest data from consultancy ADP showed that was not the case for private sector payrolls.

ADP reported a 807,000 jump in payrolls, which roughly doubled a consensus forecast for an increase of 410,000.

"The story here, perhaps, is that the fading of some of the forces holding back labor supply - enhanced/extended unemployment benefits, and school/childcare closures - combined with strong labor demand, triggered rising participation late last year, facilitating a surge in payrolls," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"This could be interrupted in the January numbers by the Omicron Covid wave, but it looks as though December survey week fell in something of a sweet spot, after the Delta wave faded but before the Omicron surge began."

On the back of the ADP figures, Shepherdson reiterated his forecast for a 1.0m (consensus 424,000) increase in the December non-farm payrolls report that was due out on Friday.

Still due out later on Wednesday were the minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee's last monetary policy meeting, which had been expected to help inform opinions regarding the outlook for interest rate hikes in the US, expectations for which had hit technology issues during the previous session.

The FOMC meeting minutes were scheduled for release at 1900 GMT.

According to economists at Barclays Research, the minutes would show that a majority of the Fed´s top officials agreed that the factors driving inflation higher were not transitory.

The minutes were also expected to show that discussions had already begun around the topic of when to start running down the central bank's balance sheet, although not much more given that they remained at a "very early" stage.

IHS Markit's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index for December was revised up from a preliminary print of 57.5 to 57.6.