Investing.com - The S&P 500 slipped on Wednesday, as Nvidia's rebound faded, keeping a lid on tech stocks despite a sharp drop in Treasury yields amid rising bets on a jumbo Fed rate cut later this month.
At 4:00 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 38 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3%.
The main Wall Street indices suffered a sharp selloff on Tuesday as U.S. investors returned from the Labor Day holiday, on the back of disappointing manufacturing activity data that fueled worries over the economic outlook.
Treasury yields in beatdown on labor market worries
The two-year Treasury, which is sensitive to Fed policy, fell more than 12 basis points to 3.766% after the job openings fell more than expected.
Job Openings fell more than expected in July to 7.67 million from a downwardly revised 7.91 million in June, pushing the ratio of vacancies to unemployed to 1.07-to-1, below pre-pandemic levels.
"Today's report adds to the body of evidence that the labor market is not only looser than pre-pandemic but is continuing to cool and potentially now at a faster pace," Citi analysts said in a note.
Market participants are holding their breath for the upcoming August U.S. jobs report, which is expected to play a key role in the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to implement a rate cut of 25 basis points or 50 on September 18.
Nvidia rebound fades
Shares in Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) closed 1% lower, weighing on the broader tech sector, after a intraday rebound ran out of steam.
Bloomberg News reported that the company had been sent a subpoena by the US Department of Justice as part of a deepening probe into its artificial intelligence chip market dominance.
Corporate earnings continue
In individual stock movements, Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) slumped 18% after its weaker-than-expected guidance offset quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates.
Asana (NYSE:ASAN) stock fell 6% after reporting a challenging quarter and announcing a change in its CFO. Pagerduty (NYSE:PD) closed 1% lowerafter reducing its revenue forecast.
On a positive note, Clover Health Investments Corp (NASDAQ:CLOV) shares jumped 14% as its Counterpart Unit secured a contract from the Iowa Clinic, and Gitlab (NASDAQ:GTLB) stock increased 21% by following strong results and an uplifted forecast.
(Senad Karaahmetovic and Scott Kanowsky contributed to this article.)