Wall Street Strong Start to Year Slows 01/07 15:38

   Wall Street's strong start to the year slowed on Wednesday.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street's strong start to the year slowed on Wednesday.

   The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% from its latest all-time high for its first loss in 
four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 466 points, or 0.9%, from 
its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.

   Some of the market's sharpest drops hit industries that President Donald 
Trump targeted with criticism on his social media network. Homebuilders fell 
sharply, for example, after Trump suggested moves to prevent large 
institutional investors from buying single-family homes, in hopes of making it 
more affordable for people to buy houses.

   The potential removal from the market of some buyers for homes sent D.R. 
Horton down 3.6% and PulteGroup 3.2% lower. Blackstone, a large investment 
company, briefly fell more than 9%, before paring its loss to 5.6%.

   Moves across the rest of the U.S. stock market were more modest, including 
for Warner Bros. Discovery after it again rejected a buyout bid from Paramount 
and told its shareholders to stick with a rival offer from Netflix.

   Warner Bros. Discovery rose 0.4%, while Paramount Skydance fell 1% and 
Netflix added 0.1%.

   All told, the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points to 6,920.93. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dropped 466.00 to 48,996.08, and the Nasdaq composite rose 
37.10 to 23,584.27.

   In the oil market, crude prices fell after Trump said that Venezuela would 
provide 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States. A barrel 
of benchmark U.S. crude dropped 2% to $55.99. Brent crude, the international 
standard, fell a more modest 1.2% to settle at $59.96 per barrel.

   Any additional oil flowing from Venezuela would push down on crude prices by 
increasing their supplies. Prices for oil have swung this week following 
Trump's weekend ouster of the president of Venezuela, which is likely sitting 
on some of the largest deposits of petroleum in the world.

   Oil prices had already fallen back to where they were in 2021, before 
Trump's move against Venezuela, because of expectations for plentiful supplies. 
To pull much more oil from Venezuela's ground would likely require big 
investments to improve aging infrastructure.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields swung following several mixed reports on 
the U.S. economy. One of the most impactful said that growth for U.S. 
retailers, finance companies and other businesses in the services sector 
accelerated by more last month than economists expected.

   Not only that, the report from the Institute for Supply Management also said 
that a measure of inflation eased to its lowest level since March.

   To be sure, company executives are still saying they're feeling pressures 
from inflation and an uncertain economy. "In general, business is flat," one 
business in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry told the 
ISM. "Value brands are still experiencing higher demand. But premium brands 
struggle to maintain market share."

   But any improvements will nevertheless sound good to officials at the 
Federal Reserve, who are trying to shore up the job market while pushing down 
on inflation, which has stubbornly remained above the Fed's 2% target.

   Separate reports on the job market offered a mixed view. One said that 
employers cut back on the number of job openings they were advertising, while a 
second suggested that employers outside of the government added 41,000 more 
jobs last month than they cut.

   A much more comprehensive look at the U.S. job market will arrive on Friday 
from the U.S. Labor Department.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late Tuesday 
following the economic reports. But the two-year yield, which more closely 
tracks expectations for what the Fed will do, was steadier. It held at 3.47%, 
where it was late Tuesday.

   The hope on Wall Street is that the economy remains solid enough to avoid a 
recession but not so strong that it keeps the Fed from cutting interest rates. 
The Fed cut its main interest rate three times last year to shore up the 
slowing job market, but it's indicated fewer cuts may be ahead because 
inflation remains high.

   Traders are betting on a less than 12% chance that the Fed will cut interest 
rates at its next meeting later this month. That's down slightly from the day 
before, according to data from CME Group.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed among some sharp moves across 
Europe and Asia.

   Indexes dropped 0.7% in London, 0.9% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Tokyo, while 
rising 0.6% in Seoul.