Dow cracks 50,000 as markets await jobs data

MANHATTAN (CN) — The major U.S. indices moved in different directions this week, as investors were unable to review the latest employment report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell hundreds of points midweek but then rocketed up Friday to pick up 1,217 points for the week, closing at 50,109. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq, weighed down by declines in tech stocks, fell seven points and 430 points for the week, respectively.

Volatility in bitcoin also rattled investors, as the cryptocurrency surprisingly plummeted midweek to its lowest level since late 2024 before recovering somewhat.

“Markets have adjusted to higher rates, slower growth, and global uncertainty, and still moved higher,” said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management. “That tells us confidence is real, and 2026 will be less about the Fed and more about fundamentals.”

Investors had hoped to evaluate the January federal jobs report, originally due Friday, but the data will now be pushed back to Feb. 11 due to the partial government shutdown.

However, investors were able to rely on the employment report from payroll company ADP, released Wednesday. That report showed the private sector gained only 22,000 jobs last month, less than half the amount expected and a notable decline from December’s 37,000 jobs gained.

Revisions to prior ADP reports helped out for the overall number of job gains for 2025, but last year’s gains were nearly half of that seen in 2024, the company stated.

“Job creation took a step back in 2025, with private employers adding 398,000 jobs, down from 771,000 in 2024,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a statement. “While we’ve seen a continuous and dramatic slowdown in job creation for the past three years, wage growth has remained stable.”

For January, service-providing companies represented nearly all of the job gains, while manufacturers added only 1,000 positions. The geographical breakdown was concentrated almost entirely in the Midwest, while mid-sized companies netted all the job gains. Companies with fewer than 50 employees added no jobs last month, while companies with more than 500 employees shed 18,000 jobs.

Earlier in the week, a pair of reports from the Institute of Supply Management showed a long-overdue economic rebound in manufacturing.

On the manufacturing side, ISM finally showed an increase after 12 months of contraction, with the group’s new orders index also posting its first increase since August and its highest point since mid-2022. The ISM manufacturing index is finally above 50 points, no longer indicating a recession.

However, ISM cautioned that “January is a reorder month after the holidays, and some buying appears to be to get ahead of expected price increases due to ongoing tariff issues.” Several survey respondents also stressed the negative impacts of tariffs and labor availability.

Services remained stable in January, with the industry showing its 19th straight month of expansion, ISM stated. However, new orders dropped by 3.4 points, backlogs remain under the 50-point threshold, and 17 of 18 surveyed industries report paying higher prices in January.

Peter Boockvary, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners, wrote in an investor’s note that “the service sector continues to carry the U.S. economy but under the hood remains an uneven picture.”

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