U.S. stocks are wobbling after weaker than expected job openings, factory orders

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks wobbled after reports on job openings and factory orders for February were weaker than expected.

At 10:26 ET (14:26 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 80 points or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.2%.

The JOLTs job openings report for February said there were 9.93 million positions available, well below the 10.4 million expected. Factory orders fell 0.7% that month, below an expected decline of 0.5%.

Crude oil prices continued to climb after the surprise output cuts announced by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies on Sunday. Inflationary pressure is weighing on tech and growth stocks.

The move by the oil cartel is pushing bets on another quarter of a percentage point rate hike by the Fed when it meets in May. Futures traders are giving that a more than 60% chance, while they see a less than 40% chance of the Fed pausing its rate hikes.

Surging shares of energy companies helped lift blue-chip stocks on Monday. Energy companies were mixed after Monday's gains.

Shares of the commercial satellite launch firm Virgin Orbit Holdings (NASDAQ:VORB) fell 17% after it filed for bankruptcy protection after falling short of securing funding.

Oil was mixed. Crude Oil WTI Futures was up 0.1% to $80.48 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures fell 0.1% to $84.88 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 1.9% to $2037.