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The S&P 500 fell Wednesday, the first day of March, as traders struggled to recover their footing following a losing month and bond yields continued their climb.
The Dow Jones Industrials forged out gains of 5.14 points to end Wednesday at 32,661.84.
The S&P 500 fell 18.76 points to 3,951.39.
The NASDAQ Composite descended 76.06 points to 11,379.48.
Sentiment initially got a boost after the release of much stronger-than-expected data out of China. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics said its official manufacturing PMI rose to 52.6 in February — a high not seen since April 2012.
The moves come after Wall Street closed out a losing February for stocks on Tuesday. The Dow led the averages down, closing the month down 4.2%. The S&P 500 let go of 2.6%, and the NASDAQ shed 1.1%.
February’s slide dragged the Dow into negative territory for the year, while the other two indexes are still holding onto their gains.
The decline marked a turn from January’s rally and was prompted in part by the bombshell jobs data that came in the first week of the month, according to Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. Non-farm payrolls increased by 517,000 in January, according to the report, which crushed the 187,000 estimated by economists polled by Dow Jones.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury hesitated, raising yields to 4% from Tuesday’s 3.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices climbed 68 cents to $77.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $8.10 to $1,844.80 U.S. an ounce.
