03:54 PM EST, 02/05/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mixed ahead of Wednesday's close as traders analyzed the latest batch of economic data and corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 44,836.5, while the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 6,050.4. The Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% lower at 19,634.4. Among sectors, real estate and technology paced the gainers, while communication services saw the biggest drop.

Employment growth in the US private sector topped expectations for January, while pay gains stabilized, Automatic Data Processing ( ADP ) reported.

Growth in the US services sector slowed in January amid weakness in business activity and new orders, two surveys by the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global (SPGI) showed.

The US trade deficit grew 25% in December, taking the 2024 shortfall to $918.42 billion, government data showed.

The US 10-year yield fell 8.5 basis points to 4.43%, while the two-year rate dropped 2.7 basis points to 4.19%.

Shares of Johnson Controls International ( JCI ) and Amgen ( AMGN ) rose after their latest quarterly financial results, while Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) saw declines.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) , Arm (ARM), McKesson (MCK), O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) and MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) are among the companies scheduled to report after the closing bell.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 2% to $71.25 a barrel.