DOW JONES–After an unexpectedly good US labor market report, Wall Street showed a slightly negative trend on Wednesday. Non-agricultural employment growth of 130,000 was reported for January, while economists’ consensus had expected 55,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 from 4.4 percent in the previous month. An unchanged status was expected here. Monthly hourly wages rose moderately more than expected.
The situation on the labor market is one of the criteria by which the US Federal Reserve bases its assessment monetary policy aligns. The unexpectedly good employment situation speaks against interest rate cuts in the near future. On Tuesday, disappointing retail sales data fueled hopes of a rate cut. The likelihood of no rate cuts by June rose from 24.8 to 40.2 percent after the data was released, according to the CME FedWatch tool. We are now waiting for consumer price data on Friday. Stubbornly high inflation would be another argument against easing monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Index fell by 0.1 percent to 50,121 points. The S&P 500 closed little changed and the Nasdaq Composite closed with a loss of 0.2 percent. The number of price winners on the Nyse was given as 1,458 (Tuesday: 1,701), the number of losers as 1,281 (1,039). 69 (95) titles closed unchanged.
The dollar largely gave back its interim gains after the US labor market data. The dollar index rose by 0.1 percent. The data reinforced expectations that the Fed would pause interest rates, but failed to support the dollar, it said.
Yields on the bond market rose slightly, rising by 3.0 basis points to 4.17 percent in the ten-year range. A 10-year US Treasury bond issue saw the lowest participation from indirect bidders, including foreign central banks, since August.
The gold price gave back some of its gains after the US labor market data. “The labor market is looking much better than even our optimistic outlook on the economy led us to believe,” said Stephen Brown of Capital Economics. “That in turn means that the hurdle for another Interest rate cut This year looks higher than we expected.” The interest-free precious metal typically benefits from a lower interest rate environment. The price of the troy ounce improved by 1.3 percent to $ 5,087.
Oil prices rose. Brent and WTI prices rose by up to 1.5 percent. Good economic data suggests high demand for oil. Otherwise, the focus was still on the negotiations between the USA and Iran. The gains were held back somewhat by an unexpected build-up of US crude oil inventories by 8.5 million barrels last week.
On the corporate side, the planned sale of Warner’s film and television studios and the streaming service HBO Max to Netflix once again made headlines. Activist investor Ancora Holding has built a stake of around $200 million in Warner Bros. Discovery and said it would oppose Warner’s agreement to sell its film and television studios and streaming service HBO to Netflix. In Ancora’s view, Warner failed to adequately engage with David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance. Paramount has submitted a counterbid for the entire group, including the TV networks. Warner gained 0.7 percent and Paramount 1.6 percent. In contrast, Netflix lost 3.2 percent.
Halliburton and SLB shares rose 2.9 and 3.0 percent. They benefit from the rise in oil prices, but also from the fact that the US government is now allowing oil industry suppliers to operate in Venezuela.
Moderna shares fell 3.6 percent after the US health agency declined to review the pharmaceutical company’s application to approve the sale of a new flu vaccine.
T-Mobile US added fewer new mobile customers in the fourth quarter than analysts expected as competition continued to intensify towards the end of the year. At $1.88 per share, earnings per share were well below the expected $2.05. After initial losses, the share price rose 5.1 percent.
Mattel fell 24.9 percent. The toy maker reported disappointing Christmas sales and issued a disappointing profit forecast for the current year. The shares of the ride-hailing platform Lyft fell by 17 percent after mixed numbers for the fourth quarter. The number of active riders and trips missed Wall Street expectations. Profit increased, but benefited from the release of a large impairment charge. The Uber stocks lost 3.4 percent.
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INDEX last +/- % absolute +/- % YTD
DJIA 50,121.40 -0.1% -66.74 +4.4%
S&P 500 6,941.47 -0.0% -0.34 +1.4%
NASDAQ Comp 23,066.47 -0.2% -36.01 -0.6%
NASDAQ 100 25,201.26 +0.3% 73.62 -0.5%
FOREX last +/- % 0:00 Tue, 5:01 pm % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1870 -0.2% 1.1891 1.1913 +1.2%
EUR/JPY 181.90 -0.9% 183.61 183.76 -0.3%
EUR/CHF 0.9159 +0.3% 0.9133 0.9117 -1.9%
EUR/GBP 0.8715 -0.0% 0.8717 0.8714 -0.0%
USD/JPY 153.23 -0.8% 154.40 154.26 -1.5%
GBP/USD 1.3621 -0.1% 1.3641 1.3670 +1.3%
USD/CNY 6.9410 -0.0% 6.9417 6.9370 -1.2%
USD/CNH 6.9085 -0.1% 6.9127 6.9102 -0.9%
AUS/USD 0.7123 +0.7% 0.7070 0.7085 +6.0%
Bitcoin/USD 67,461.35 -1.8% 68,671.60 69,112.50 -22.4%
CRUDE OIL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 64.76 63.79 +1.5% 0.97 +11.5%
Brent/ICE 69.70 68.80 +1.3% 0.90 +13.2%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold 5,087.07 5,022.26 +1.3% 64.82 +16.2%
Silver 84.46 81.23 +4.0% 3.23 +13.9%
Platinum 1,806.76 1,755.81 +2.9% 50.95 +0.1%
Copper 5.97 5.91 +1.0% 0.06 +4.0%
YTD based on the previous day’s closing level
(Information provided without guarantee)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 11, 2026 4:16 p.m. ET (21:16 GMT)
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