NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were wavering between small gains and losses Wednesday as investors worked through another batch of earnings from companies including CBS and Michael Kors. Investors were also looking over job figures from a payroll processing company ahead of Friday’s employment report from the government.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 33 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,881 as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell five points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,109 and the Nasdaq composite lost 12 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,132.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: A report out from payroll processor ADP showed that American businesses added a solid but unspectacular 182,000 jobs in October. In its report, ADP also revised September’s figure down to 190,000 from 200,000.
The ADP report is a precursor to the more important government jobs report, which is due out Friday. Investors expect that U.S. employers added 185,000 jobs in October and that the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.1 percent.
The October jobs report is widely seen as an important gauge for whether or not the Fed will raise interest rates at its December meeting.
IT’S ELECTRIC! Tesla Motors shares jumped $20.61, or 10 percent, to $228.91. While the company announced a wider-than-expected loss for the quarter, the company also said it was boosting car production.
IN FASHION: Michael Kors Holdings, the clothing and handbag company owned by its namesake designer, rose $4.69, or 12 percent, to $44.03 after the company reported revenue and profits in the latest quarter that were stronger than analysts expected.
STILL ON THE AIR: Television company CBS rose 60 cents, or 1 percent, to $48.79 after the company’s third-quarter results, while negative, were not as worse as some analysts had predicted.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude futures fell 90 cents to $47.01 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude fell $1.09 to $49.42 a barrel in London.
BONDS, CURRENCIES: Bond prices fell for a third-straight day. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was up to 2.23 percent, up from 2.21 percent on Tuesday. The dollar rose to 121.45 yen from 121.04 late Tuesday. The euro weakened to $1.0867 from $1.0966.
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