Market Report, 2026-02-05

Stocks finished the day, marking the third consecutive session ofdeclines. In addition to concerns surrounding a retreat in AI-related assets,investors received a rather disappointing job openings report and initialjobless claims report. Directionally consistent with yesterday’s ADP employmentreport, today’s job openings data highlighted a meaningful decline in thenumber of available jobs, while economists had generally expected an increase.Initial jobless claims also exceeded expectations.

The implied gloomy economic outlook has led the market to rotateout of risky assets, in contrast to the earlier rotation out of AI stocks seenin previous days.

All major stock indices ended the day in the red. The Dow JonesIndustrial Average fell 593 points to 48,909. The NASDAQ declined another 1.38%to 24,549. The S&P 500 dipped 1.23% to 6,798, while the Russell 2000 lost1.79% to 2,578. The utilities sector was the only sector to end the day in thegreen, posting a modest 0.05% gain. Materials, consumer staples, and technologyled the decline, with losses of 2.68%, 2.16%, and 1.8%, respectively.

The bond market rallied as investors sought safety. The U.S.5-year Treasury yield declined by a stunning 11 basis points to 3.73%, and the10-year yield slid 9 basis points to 4.19%.

Cryptocurrencies were today’s biggest movers, with Bitcoin losingmore than 12% of its value and approaching the 60,000 mark. As markets dashedfor liquidity, gold also fell 2.66%, approaching the 4,800 level.

Today’s data skewed perceptions of the U.S. economy toward theweaker side. Although it is still too early to tell, the elevated valuations ofvarious assets mean there is minimal margin for error.