Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 11, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The S&P 500 fell on Thursday as investors continued to shift away from technology names toward those more poised to benefit from a growing U.S. economy.
The broad market index dropped 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 81 points, or 0.2%.
Investors moved into more cyclical areas of the market during the session. Shares of Walmart, Boeing and GE Vernova all moved higher, posting a rise of 2%, 3% and 1%, respectively. However, tech was under pressure, as “Magnificent Seven” stocks such as Apple and Amazon were each lower by around 1%. Additionally, Cisco Systems slid 9% after the maker of networking hardware such as switches and routers issued disappointing guidance for the current quarter.
Those moves come after a downbeat trading day on Wall Street. Stocks ended the session lower after earlier rallying off the back of a strong jobs report, which showed sharp jobs growth of 130,000 last month, far above what economists were expecting, and much higher than the downwardly revised December gain. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4%.
The report was a relief for investors who worried it would show a drop-off in the labor market, following a raft of recent data that’s indicated slowing growth in a “no hire, no fire” environment.
Yet the strong payrolls numbers also muddy the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook and could mean fewer rate cuts than traders were hoping for if higher inflation also remains an issue. That underscores the importance of Friday’s consumer price index, which could show the central bank just what is needed for its dual mandate to come into better balance.
Wall Street is now gearing up for Friday’s inflation reading. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting the consumer price index for January to show a 0.3% increase for both headline and core, which excludes food and energy prices.
“It’s going to put a lot of weight on Friday’s CPI report, because if that comes in tame, at least the market can understand that the inflation part of the Fed’s equation is cooling,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday.
“And of course, now, if the job market is showing decent strength, it kind of relieves us from a macro perspective, because at least we’re not seeing an economic downturn,” Lee continued.
Initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 7 fell from the prior weekly period, the Labor Department reported Thursday. However, the number came in slightly above expectations.