Selling pressure despite a 'surprise jobs report'… the three major indexes end slightly lower [New York Stock Market Briefing]

U.S. stocks in New York ended slightly lower.

U.S. nonfarm job gains in January far exceeded expectations, providing a tailwind, but equities turned volatile as doubts about the strength of the labor-market beat combined with valuation concerns near recent highs.

On the 11th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 66.74 points (0.13%) from the previous session at 50,121.40. The S&P 500 edged down 0.34 point (0.00%) to 6,941.47, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 36.01 points (0.16%) to finish at 23,066.47.

January nonfarm payrolls came in at about double market expectations.

The U.S. Department of Labor said January nonfarm payrolls rose by 130,000 from the prior month. The market consensus had called for a 70,000 increase. The unemployment rate also came in at 4.3%, down 0.1% point from the previous month. Hiring remained concentrated in healthcare, but the overall gain pointed to resilience in the U.S. economy.

On the news, major indexes opened higher on a gap up. The Nasdaq at one point extended gains to as much as 0.94% intraday.

Still, investors remained cautious, noting a recurring pattern of downward revisions to the nonfarm payrolls figures and a range of indicators pointing to a cooling labor market. With worries about stretched levels near recent peaks also in play, a wave of selling emerged.

Even so, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, made up of AI and chip-related names, surged more than 2%. The Philly index has rebounded nearly 10% over the past four sessions.

Nvidia and Broadcom finished modestly higher, while TSMC, Lam Research, Applied Materials, KLA and Intel rose around 3%.

Micron Technology jumped 10% after saying it is supplying HBM4 to Nvidia without issues.

Shares of wealth-management and financial-services firms fell sharply for a second straight day, as the fallout continued from tech platform Altruist’s launch of an AI-based tax-management tool.

LPL Financial fell 6%, and Charles Schwab dropped more than 3%. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were also slightly lower.

Reporter Shin Min-kyung, Hankyung.com radio@hankyung.com