Wall Street mixed, Treasury yields slide amid mixed earnings, data

NEW YORK : Wall Street struggled for direction and benchmark Treasury yields slid on Wednesday as disappointing earnings and mixed economic data counterbalanced easing jitters of a spreading global trade war.

The S&P 500 joined the tech-heavy Nasdaq in negative territory in the wake of disappointing earnings from Alphabet fueled doubts about the payoff of investment in artificial intelligence.

Simmering in the background are worries of escalating tit-for-tat tariff moves.

"We think the leaders of other countries don't really understand Trump's art of the deal," said Jay Hatfield, CEO and portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York. "The threat of 25 per cent was not meant to be the real tariff rate."

"We think the tariffs are quite bullish for the stock market," Hatfield added, saying that 5 per cent or 10 per cent tariffs across the board "will fund a major corporate tax decrease."

Markets appeared to look past President Donald Trump's eyebrow raising declaration that the United States would take over the Gaza Strip, a move that underscored the likelihood of market volatility under the new administration.

On the economic front, a stronger-than-expected ADP reading was offset by a surprise deceleration in the services sector, while record high imports pushed the U.S. trade deficit sharply wider.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.80 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 44,628.41, the S&P 500 fell 0.02 points, or 0.00 per cent, to 6,037.71 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 42.30 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 19,612.17.

European stocks reversed an early selloff and were last higher, powered in part by healthcare stocks as Novo Nordisk's blockbuster drug Wegovy sales more than doubled in the fourth quarter.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.27 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 869.19.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.36 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 7.22 points, or 0.34 per centEmerging market stocks rose 3.55 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,096.53. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 0.45 per cent, to 576.91, while Japan's Nikkei rose 33.11 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 38,831.48.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped to their lowest level since mid-December in the wake of the disappointing services data, as investors continue to grapple with uncertainties arising from tariff skirmishes.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 8.9 basis points to 4.424 per cent, from 4.513 per cent late on Tuesday.The 30-year bond yield fell 9.2 basis points to 4.6556 per cent from 4.748 per cent late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 4 basis points to 4.174 per cent, from 4.214 per cent late on Tuesday.

The dollar softened as risk of a global trade war appeared to wane.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,fell 0.54 per cent to 107.47, with the euro up 0.37 per cent at $1.0415.Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 1.31 per cent to152.31.

The Mexican peso < MXN=> weakened 0.53 per cent versus the dollar at 20.621.

The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.21 per cent versus the greenback to C$1.43 per dollar.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 1.24 per cent to $97,701.41. Ethereum rose 4.32 per cent to $2,754.13.

Oil prices dropped as rising U.S. supply and worries of a new Sino-U.S. trade war overshadowed President Trump's renewed effort to eliminate Iranian oil exports.

U.S. crude fell 2.19 per cent to $71.13 a barrel and Brent fell to $74.68 per barrel, down 1.99 per cent on the day.

Gold resumed its rally as trade war jitters continue to attract investors to the safe-haven metal, sending it to fresh record highs.

Spot gold rose 0.97 per cent to $2,869.39 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.62 per cent to $2,871.10 an ounce.

(This story has been refiled to add the missing word 'that' in paragraph 6)