Stocks zigzag ahead of service sector data; ADP report says more jobs lost than forecast

Stocks trade in tight range ahead of services data

NEW YORK — Stocks fluctuated in early trading Wednesday as investors refrained from making major moves ahead of a stream of economic reports.

A payroll company’s labor market report indicated job losses are slowing. 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.

Analysts say some investors are holding back while they await Friday’s Labor Department report on employment. Economists estimate that 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 Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.18, or 0.2 percent, to 10,555.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.60, or 0.1 percent, to 1,134.92, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.15, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,308.86.

Augstums reported from Charlotte, N.C.