Stock Market Today: Stocks Sink After Delayed Payroll Report Disappoints
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This live blog is refreshed periodically throughout the day with the latest updates from the market.To find the latest Stock Market Today threads, click here.Happy Tuesday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Dec. 16, 2025. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.Update: 9:30 a.m. ETOpening BellThe U.S. markets are now opened for the day. The Russell 2000 (+0.12%) and Dow (+0.03%) are up a few basis points, while the S&P 500(-0.15%) and Nasdaq (-0.19%) are down after today's October and November payrolls report.It seems the early takeaway is that these A.M. reports -- which include the highest unemployment showing since 2021 -- don't dramatically move the needle on Fed expectations. The expectation among Fed hawks is that the central bank will still cut twice next year, even in light of the data.The 10Y Treasury was little-changed at 4.18%, down less than one basis point. The 20Y and 30Y rose by less than a basis point, at 4.816% and 4.856%..In continuous futures, Gold (+0.60% to $4,361) and Silver (+0.24% to $63.74) are continuing their days-long ascent, while energy commodities like Natural Gas (-2.44% to $3.914) and Brent Crude (-2.25% to $59.20) are both declining once more today.Here's what else is notable this morning:S&P Global Flash for December Is OutAs we're digesting a bunch of old news, it's nice to see some more timely economic data from S&P Global's various PMI readings:S&P Global Composite PMIFlash: 53.0 (was 54.2)S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Flash: 51.8 (was 52.2)S&P Global Services PMI Flash: 52.9 (was 54.1)That'll mark three straight months of declining readings across the indexes, but a reading above 50 means economic expansion -- so it's hard to be disappointed about that. Still, the services and manufacturing index saw their lowest readings in six and five months respectively.These December reports are the absolute most recent data we'll be getting today. Update: 8:32 a.m. ETDelayed Payrolls Saw Steep Decline in October; Modest Turnaround in NovemberDelayed payrolls data for the month of October revealed that many of the 108,000 jobs thought added in the month of September were erased. The report, just out, showed a decline of 105,000 jobs in October, which was mostly led by declines in government payrolls (-157K).Thankfully, there was a small consolation, as November payrolls showed 64,000 additions -- which came in ahead of the consensus of 50,000. That, at least for now, seems to have offset the tepid October data showing created by the government shutdown. However, the unemployment rate ticked up to its highest point since Sept. 2021 at 4.6%.The reaction has pushed stocks to session highs in futures trading, but there have been signs of reversion ahead of the market open in less than an hour.Retail Sales Grow, But Slow SharplyWe're seeing a similar trend with the latest retail sales data for October, which grew 3.5% year-over-year, down from the 4.2% growth in September. Update: 7:24 a.m. ETA.M. UpdateGood morning. What's better than data? Well, lots of data.Today, traders and econ hawks will be treated to a series of overdue reports from October, plus more timely reports from November as a series of establishment economic cross the wire. Among them will be the overdue September business inventories, October payrolls, and October retail sales. Plus, we'll get ADP weekly employment change, November payrolls data, and the S&P Global Manufacturing Composite and Services PMI Flash for December.Earnings Today: BHP Group, Lennar, Korea Electric Power CorpIn addition, we have a handful of earnings coming up today with at least a $1 billion market cap per Nasdaq -- BHP Group, Lennar Corp., Korea Electric Power Corp., and Worthington Enterprises, Inc. In total, there's over 20 reports coming today; although, they might be overshadowed by the foreboding of economic data that's coming up.