Global Markets: Dollar, yields gain, US stocks little changed after US jobs data beat

Csl

11/02/2026 16:48

Updates to late morning

US economy adds 130,000 jobs, exceeding expectations

Dollar, yields rise following report

S&P 500 last near flat after opening higher

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The dollar and Treasury yields rose, while U.S. stocks gave up early gains to trade nearly flat on Wednesday after data showed the U.S. economy created far more jobs than expected in January, which could make it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to keep cutting rates this year.

Labor Department data showed 130,000 workers were added to nonfarm payrolls in January, well above forecasts for a rise of 70,000, while both November and December were revised down a touch.

The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4% in December, below forecasts for a reading of 4.4%.

“January’s employment report was a blockbuster with improvement across the board," Eric Merlis, co-head of global markets at Citizens in Boston, said in an email.

"A lower unemployment rate without any significant wage acceleration is exactly what the Fed wants to see, and it should solidify the case for holding rates steady in March."

Market expectations for a Fed cut of at least 25 basis points at the central bank's March meeting had risen to about 20% before the jobs data, and were back to a roughly 6% after the report, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 53.20 points, or 0.11%, to 50,134.94, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 0.70 points, or 0.01%, to 6,942.51 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 81.23 points, or 0.35%, to 23,021.24.

Financials .SPSY were among sectors leading declines in the S&P 500.

In Europe, trading was dominated by jitters about artificial intelligence disruption, this time sweeping shares in asset managers lower, having hit the insurance and software sectors in the last week.  Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index .STOXX hit a record high, and was last up 0.34%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 1.76 points, or 0.17%, to 1,056.48.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.11% to 97.02, with the euro EUR= down 0.31% at $1.1857.

However, against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar weakened 0.59% to 153.47. The yen has rallied over the past few days, marking a potential shift in investor thinking since Sunday's landslide election victory for Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

In other currencies, the Australian dollar rose to a three-year high after Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser said inflation was too high and policymakers were committed to doing whatever was necessary to bring it to heel. The Australian dollar AUD= strengthened 0.52% versus the greenback to $0.7111.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note US10YT=TWEB rose 3.5 basis points to 4.18% after hitting a session high of 4.206%.

U.S. crude CLc1 rose 1.77% to $65.09 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 rose to $69.91 per barrel, up 1.63% on the day. Spot gold XAU= rose 0.68% to $5,057.04 an ounce.

 (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Amanda Cooper in London; additional reporting by Laura Matthews in New York, and Samuel Indyk and Harry Robertson in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Joe Bavier, Alex Richardson and Ros Russell)

 ((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))