S&P 500 Rally Fades As Tesla Sinks 8%: Markets Wrap

Wall Street refrained from making big bets ahead of the US jobs report, which may provide more clues on whether the Federal Reserve will be able to meet market expectations for two interest-rate cuts in 2025.

Stocks were little changed after an advance that was earlier driven by hopes tensions between the world’s two largest economies would cool down as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to further trade talks. Tesla Inc. tumbled 8% as Trump said he’s “very disappointed” in Elon Musk. Shorter-term bonds underperformed. The dollar wavered.

In the run-up to the all-important jobs report, an unexpected jump in jobless claims added speculation the Fed will have to resume rate cuts sooner rather than later to prevent an economic recession.

Economists see payrolls rising by 125,000 after job growth in March and April exceeded projections. That would leave the average over the past three months tracking a still-solid 162,000. The unemployment rate is seen holding at 4.2%.

The S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 4.38%. The euro gained as European Central Bank officials were said to expect a July pause in their rate-cutting campaign.

• Broadcom Inc.’s soaring share price has catapulted the chipmaker into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies, ratcheting up the pressure on its Thursday earnings report to help sustain the momentum.

• Brown-Forman Corp., owner of the Jack Daniels brand, fell the most in more than 15 years after reporting results that trailed expectations while projecting a sales decline for the current fiscal year.

• Kimberly-Clark Corp. is forming a joint venture with Suzano SA that will see it sell a majority stake in its global Kleenex and tissue businesses outside of North America to the Brazilian pulp supplier.

• Procter & Gamble Co. plans to slash as many as 7,000 office jobs over the next two years as the maker of Tide laundry detergent and Gillette razors seeks to improve productivity.

• Mattel Inc. and its Fisher-Price unit have settled lawsuits alleging their recalled Rock ‘n Play baby sleeper was so defectively designed that it led to the deaths of infants.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 was little changed as of 1:12 p.m. New York time

• The Nasdaq 100 was little changed

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed

• The MSCI World Index was little changed

• Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 0.7%

• The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.3%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1442

• The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3584

• The Japanese yen fell 0.6% to 143.69 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 1.2% to $103,445.9

• Ether fell 1.4% to $2,570.12

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.38%

• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.58%

• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.62%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $63.25 a barrel

• Spot gold fell 0.7% to $3,350.46 an ounce