Stocks ended Tuesday's volatile session in the red as market participants were concerned about rising inflation and high valuations, with tech stocks taking the biggest hit in the morning. However, tech names rebounded in the afternoon, but the comeback did not spread to the rest of the market.
On the economy front, U.S. job openings surged to a record high in March at 8.123 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly report, its highest level since the BLS began tracking the metric in 2000. March's reading topped expectations and jumped from February's upwardly revised reading of 7.526 million. Moreover, the layoff and discharge rate fell to a series low of 1.0% in March, while the quits rate remained unchanged March-over-February at 2.4%.
Meanwhile, small business optimism rose to a five-month high in April, according to the National Federation of Independent Business' monthly survey. The headline index increased to 99.8 in April from 98.2 in March, bringing the Optimism Index up by a total of 4.8 points over the last three months. Despite the more upbeat outlooks, a record 44% of small business owners reported they had job openings that could not be filled, and the net percent of owners increased average selling prices by 10 percentage points to 36%.
"Small business owners are seeing a growth in sales but are stunted by not having enough workers," NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement. "Finding qualified employees remains the biggest challenge for small businesses and is slowing economic growth. Owners are raising compensations, offering bonuses and benefits to attract the right employees."
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Stocks, Novavax
For Sector Performance, Materials
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For Wednesday, market participants will focus on key inflation data for April's consumer price index and core CPI.