U.S. Stocks Under Pressure Ahead of Payrolls and Retail Sales Reports

Barry Adams
16 Dec, 2025
New York City

U.S. stock market indexes faced headwinds for the second consecutive session this week amid market rotation away from high-priced technology stocks. 

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.5%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite inched lower 0.8%. 

Investors remained net sellers of technology stocks linked to artificial intelligence and sought value in industrial and cyclical stocks ahead of the release of delayed economic data releases. 

November's nonfarm payrolls advanced 35,000, and the jobless rate increased to a four-year high of 4.4%, while average hourly earnings edged up 0.3%, according to an estimate by Ticker.com. 

Employers expanded payrolls at a sharply lower rate than the 119,000 increase in September, amid the continued pullback by private businesses in manufacturing, retail, and logistics industries. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics canceled the October Employment Situation report because of the federal government shutdown and the agency's inability to collect retroactive data with sufficient reliability. 

October's retail ad food services sales advanced at a slower pace of 4.0%, amid a weaker nonstore sales growth of 5.8%, and food services and drinking place sales rose 6% from a year ago, respectively. 

 

U.S. Movers 

The Tollbooth Strategy Index, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite closed down on Monday, pressured by the weakness in key technology stocks. 

Nvidia Corp. edged up 0.8%, Broadcom dropped 6%, Alphabet Inc. eased 0.4%, Apple Inc. decreased 1.5%, Meta Platforms gained 0.6%, and Oracle Corp. declined 2.7%. 

General Electric Co. gained 0.4% to $300.98, GE Vernova edged up 1.4% to $681.35, and GE HealthCare Technologies inched up 0.8% to $84.45.