Indexes end near flat, supported by Fed hopes but dragged by Amazon

[BENGALURU] US stocks closed near the unchanged mark on Thursday (Dec 4), as investors weighed a report on the labour market and other economic data, while equities drew support from elevated hopes for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week.

A drop in Amazon.com shares weighed on the S&P 500, limiting its advance.

With the November payrolls report scheduled for after the Fed’s December meeting due to the extended government shutdown, market participants have looked to secondary indicators that have given a mixed view of the labour market as the backlog of government data slowly gets unwound.

A Labor Department report showed initial jobless claims dropped to their lowest level in more than three years, although analysts suggested the drop could have been in part due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

A separate report from the Chicago Fed estimated the unemployment rate held near 4.4 per cent in November.

Markets are pricing in an 87 per cent chance the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points this month, up from a 68.6 per cent chance priced in a month ago, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

“Everybody’s waiting around to see what the Fed thinks with any of this data that they have seen come in because the last comments from (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell were a little bit on the hawkish side, but cuts are fully expected,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The short of it is the gold standard is payrolls, and we just don’t have an updated figure there, so that’s going to really move the needle one way or the other on any future rate policy paths.”

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 7.4 points, or 0.11 per cent, to end at 6,857.14 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 51.04 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 23,505.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.96 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 47,850.94.

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A delayed report from the Commerce Department showed factory orders rose 0.2 per cent, short of the 0.5 per cent estimate, after a downwardly revised 1.3 per cent increase in August as tariffs hemmed in manufacturers.

Dow component Salesforce climbed after the company raised its fiscal 2026 revenue and adjusted profit forecasts, anticipating growth in its artificial intelligence agent platform due to strong enterprise demand.

Also on the plus side, Meta Platforms rose as one of the biggest boosts to the S&P after a Bloomberg report said the Facebook parent planned cuts of up to 30 per cent of its Metaverse budget.

Meanwhile, Amazon dipped as one of the biggest drags to the benchmark S&P index after the e-commerce company said it was in discussions with the US Postal Service about their future relationship and is considering its options before its contract expires next year.

The consumer staples index fell as one of the worst-performing of the 11 major S&P sectors, pressured by a drop in Kroger after the supermarket chain narrowed its annual sales forecast and missed quarterly sales estimates. In contrast, Dollar General surged after the discount retailer raised its annual profit forecast.

Snowflake tumbled after the cloud data analytics company’s fourth-quarter product revenue forecast was below lofty investor expectations for stronger growth.

Hormel Foods advanced after the Skippy peanut butter maker forecast annual profit above estimates. REUTERS