US close: Choppy day as markets wait to hear from Yellen
After a choppy session, US stocks finished in the red on Tuesday, as oil prices continued to slide and traders waited to hear from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08% to 16,014.38, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite slowed 0.07% and 0.35% respectively.
Job openings rocketed from 5.4m in November to 5.61m in December according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It followed several months' worth of data that appeared to be pointing to a levelling-off in job openings, calling that trend into question, said Pantheon Macroeconomics's chief economist, Ian Sheperdson.
It was also consistent with the improving trend in the National Federation of Independent Businesses' measure of jobs-hard-to-fill.
The so-called 'quit-rate' - which Yellen has pointed to in the past as a key indicator - also hit a new cycle-high of 2.1%, after rising by one tenth of a percentage point.
Meanwhile small US businesses were less optimistic at the start of the year, but not overly so, according to the results of a widely-followed survey.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses' index of Small Business Optimism retreated by 1.3 points to 93.9 in January (consensus: 94.5).
However, while expectations for business conditions and expected real sales volumes weakened further, actual spending and hiring numbers "held up pretty well as the real economy plods forward," the NFIB said.
Indeed, plans to create jobs maintained "respectable levels (for this recovery)" while reports that job openings were "hard-to-fill" increased to expansion-high levels.
And US total wholesale inventories fell less than expected in December, figures released by the Commerce Department showed on Tuesday.
Wholesale inventories slipped 0.1% to a seasonally-adjusted $582bn compared with consensus expectations for a 0.2% drop and a downwardly-revised 0.4% decline the previous month.
Although this was a touch better than expected, it marked the third straight month of falls.
Oil prices continued to fall, with West Texas Intermediate crude down 4.75% to $28.28 per barrel and Brent dropping 6.6% to $30.71 per barrel shortly after the US stock market session closed.
In company news, shares in Sears Holding Group plunged nearly 9% after the retailer said its fourth-quarter revenue would fall short of expectations. The news has prompted the company to accelerate store closures and make bigger cost cuts.
Coca Cola shares were fizzing, up 1.5% after it posted fourth quarter earnings of $10bn, slightly above expectations of $9.9bn.
Wendy’s preliminary fourth quarter profits also beat expectations, however revenue slipped 4.7% to $464.4 million, largely due to the ownership of 363 fewer company-operated restaurants, sending shares down over 4%.
S&P 500 - Risers
Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $13.54 +9.99%
Masco Corp. (MAS) $25.39 +8.23%
Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $11.98 +7.35%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $57.33 +6.07%
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $16.87 +4.98%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $27.45 +4.21%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $28.76 +4.20%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $46.44 +3.87%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $23.88 +3.78%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $66.48 +3.58%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $32.86 -21.48%
HCP Inc. (HCP) $28.33 -16.65%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $3.38 -13.55%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $7.53 -11.93%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $1.95 -11.76%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $20.63 -10.92%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $8.37 -10.39%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $1.67 -10.22%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $17.37 -9.25%
Ensco Plc. (ESV) $8.47 -8.92%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $29.10 +1.89%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $113.86 +1.80%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $59.08 +1.60%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.30 +1.52%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $55.68 +1.16%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $111.16 +1.04%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $117.01 +0.83%
Visa Inc. (V) $68.33 +0.83%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $49.16 +0.68%
3M Co. (MMM) $154.74 +0.55%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $82.92 -3.57%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $124.07 -2.29%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $65.81 -1.63%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $80.08 -1.33%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $22.65 -1.22%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $50.15 -1.16%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $63.93 -1.01%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $148.25 -0.67%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $56.20 -0.60%
Boeing Co. (BA) $118.88 -0.49%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $58.25 +3.43%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $86.13 +3.37%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $52.22 +3.10%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $139.49 +3.04%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $74.93 +2.77%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $67.77 +2.76%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $39.18 +2.57%
Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $65.54 +2.41%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $87.25 +2.33%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $54.53 +2.25%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $32.86 -21.48%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $365.97 -6.29%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $24.72 -5.00%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $3.28 -4.65%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $24.33 -4.17%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $40.18 -4.13%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $40.68 -3.76%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $39.57 -3.44%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $54.09 -3.20%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $52.33 -3.18%