U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 0.1% on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.07% to 50,155.13 while the NASDAQ fell 0.11% to 23,077.62. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.14% to 6,950.34.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 2.4% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services stocks fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The pace of employment growth sharply surpassed economist expectations of 70,000 and marked a strong acceleration compared to December’s downwardly revised 48,000. The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped from 4.4% to 4.3%.

Wage growth strengthened. Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm employees rose 15 cents, or 0.4%, to 37 dollars and 17 cents. That marked an acceleration from December’s 0.1% increase and exceeded expectations of 0.3%.

Equities Trading UP
           

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $64.80 while gold traded up 1.7% at $5,115.20.

Silver traded up 5% to $84.41 on Wednesday, while copper rose 0.9% to $5.9660.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.10%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.43%. London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.14%, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.53% and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.18% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.31%, China’s Shanghai Composite gaining 0.09% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.05%.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 130K,000 jobs in January, compared to a revised 48,000 gain in December and higher than market estimates of 70,000.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.3% in January from 4.4% in December, compared to market expectations of 4.4%.

U.S. crude oil inventories surged by 8.5 million barrels to 428.8 million in the week ended Feb. 6, compared to market estimates of a 0.8 million barrel gain.

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