Feb. 12 at 9:52 PM
Investors sought safety in more defensive areas of the market. Walmart
and Coca-Cola
shares were up 3.8% and 0.5%, respectively. Consumer staples and utilities led the gains among S&P 500 sectors, rising more than 1% each. That move led consumer staples to a fresh record close.
Stocks ended the previous session lower after earlier rallying off the back of a strong jobs report. Enthusiasm for the data waned as economists doubted it could be the start of a trend higher in payrolls, especially when accompanying revisions in the report indicated there was zero job growth in the back half of 2025.
Traders now brace for a key inflation report Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting January CPI to show a 0.3% increase for both headline and core, which excludes food and energy prices.
$KO $WMT $VOO