Wall Street hangs near its records

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are drifting around their records on Tuesday ahead of the week’s first big update on how well the job market is doing.

The S&P 500 was virtually flat in early trading, a day after rising tech stocks helped it set an all-time high for the 54th time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite edged down by 0.1% from its own record set a day earlier.

AT&T helped lead the market with a gain of 5% after it raised its profit forecast for the full year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it plans to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027.

On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 7.9%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker.

Nippon Steel announced last December plans to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition.

Tesla lost 1.4% after a judge in Delaware late Monday reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit ahead of a report on the number of job openings that U.S. employers were advertising at the end of October. Economists expect the number inched up from the prior month. A better-than-expected figure would raise optimism that the economy could continue to avoid a recession that many investors had earlier thought was inevitable.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.17% from 4.20% late Monday.

Yields have seesawed since Trump’s victory on Election Day amid worries that his preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group.

Lower rates can help give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel.

The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November.

Since his victory, Trump has broadcasted his plans for tariffs, including for goods coming from China.

Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.

The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China.

In stock markets abroad, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2% amid continued worries about politics in Paris, where the government is battling over the budget.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs on China and other countries.

Indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.