news/AMZN/2023.01.05/Wall St drops more than 1% with jobs data feeding fears of more Fed tightening.txt

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)*U.S. private payrolls rise more than expected*Initial weekly jobless claims fall*Tesla drops as sales of China-made vehicles fall*Indexes down: Dow 1.02%, S&P 1.16%, Nasdaq 1.47%Jan 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes lost more
than 1% on Thursday, with Nasdaq leading the declines, as
evidence of a tight labor market eroded hopes that the Federal
Reserve could pause its rating hiking cycle anytime soon as it
keeps focused on inflation.Thursday's ADP National Employment report showed a
higher-than-expected rise in private employment in December.
Another report showed weekly jobless claims fell last week.On Wednesday, another data set showed a moderate fall in
U.S. job openings. While a strong labor market would usually be
welcomed as a sign of economic strength, investors currently see
it as a reason for the Fed to keep interest rates high."It's very clear that good news on the labor market means
bad news for the stock market. Data is showing that the labor
market is very resilient," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market
strategist at Ameriprise in Tory Michigan."As long as the labor market is resilient, the Federal
Reserve has to continue to tighten financial conditions to bring
inflation down," said that strategist who expects investors to
be keenly focused on wage inflation in Friday's jobs report.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 339.69 points,
or 1.02%, to 32,930.08, the S&P 500 lost 44.87 points, or
1.16%, to 3,808.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped
153.52 points, or 1.47%, to 10,305.24.The indexes lost steam late in the day, ending close to
their session lows. They had pared losses in the early afternoon
when St. Louis Federal Reserve leader James Bullard said 2023
could finally bring some welcome relief on the inflation front.While Saglimbene noted that Bullard's comments were not
surprising, his suggestion that rate hikes were starting to show
some signs of dampening inflation, provided some reassurance.Among the S&P's 11 major sectors, real estate  -
which was the biggest percentage gainer on Wednesday - lead
Thursday's sector losses with a 2.9% drop, with utilities
came next, falling 2.2%.The sole gainer was energy, which closed up 1.99%
after crude oil futures settled higher.On Wednesday, Wall Street's main indexes had erased some of
their gains after minutes from the Fed's December meeting showed
officials were laser-focused on fighting inflation even as they
agreed to slow the hiking pace to limit economic risks.Earlier Thursday both Kansas City Fed leader Esther George
and Atlanta President Raphael Bostic stressed that the central
bank's priority was to curb inflation through policy tightening.Traders see rates peaking at slightly above 5% in June.The more comprehensive non farm payrolls report due on
Friday, will be looked to for further clues on labor demand and
the rate hike trajectory.Among individual stocks, Tesla Inc ended down 2.9%
after December sales of its China-made electric vehicles fell to
a five-month low, while Amazon.com Inc finished  down
2.4% after it announced increased layoff plans.Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc finished down 6% at
$35.19 after the drugstore chain posted a quarterly loss on an
opioid litigation charge.Shares in Bed Bath & Beyond Inc plunged 29.9% to
$1.69 after the home goods retailer  said it was exploring
options, including bankruptcy.Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.58-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.44-to-1 ratio favored decliners.The S&P 500 posted 8 new 52-week highs and 7 new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 68 new highs and 66 new lows.On U.S. exchanges was 10.21 billion shares changed hands
compared with the 10.79 billion moving average for the last 20
trading days.
(Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Shubham Batra, Bansari
Mayur Kamdar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur, Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)