Stocks mixed ahead of service sector data as investors weigh labor data

Stocks open mixed after ADP labor figures

Stocks are narrowly mixed in early trading as investors refrain from any major moves ahead of a stream of economic data.

A payroll company’s labor market report indicated job losses are slowing, but not as fast as some analysts had expected. Later Wednesday, a private trade group reports on activity in the service sector last month with economists expecting modest growth.

The Labor Department’s report on December employment is set for Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 3.10, or less than 0.1 percent, at 10,568.92. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 1.26, or 0.1 percent, at 1,135.26, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 0.96, or less than 0.1 percent, at 2,309.67.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Stock index futures pared their losses Wednesday as investors refrain from any major moves ahead of a stream of economic data.

A payroll company’s labor market report indicated job losses are slowing, but not as fast as some analysts had expected. Later in the day, a private trade group reports on activity in the service sector last month with economists expecting modest growth.

Dow futures fell 3, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,512. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 0.80, or 0.1 percent, to 1,131.50, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 2.25, or 0.1 percent, to 1,883.00.

Asian stocks were up, while European markets edged lower.

The ADP National Employment Report said that 84,000 private sector jobs were lost in December. That’s slightly worse than the 73,000 expected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters, but better than the 169,000 jobs lost in November.

Many analysts said investors were holding back while they wait for Friday’s Labor Department report on employment.

Economists expect the nation’s unemployment ticked up to 10.1 percent in December from 10 percent in November.

Later Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management will issue its non-manufacturing index for December. Economists forecast that the index hit 50.5 in December, up from 48.7 in November. A reading of 50 marks the dividing line between growth and contraction in the service sector, which includes more than 80 percent of U.S. economic activity.

The monthly services sector survey is expected at 10 a.m. EST.

The Federal Reserve will also release the minutes from its December meeting at 2 p.m. EST.

Stock trading was quiet Tuesday after a strong start the first day of trading in the new year.

New data from November did little to move the markets. The Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose by more than twice what had been expected. The National Association of Realtors said the number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell 16 percent.

Meanwhile Wednesday, bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.77 percent from 3.76 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.7 percent from 0.05 percent.

The dollar mostly rose against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.5 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent, Germany’s DAX index was up 0.1 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was down less than 0.1 percent.