US stocks drift ahead of Tuesday's jobs report

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted through a quiet day of trading on Monday, ahead of economic reports this week that could drive where interest rates go.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 41 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.

Helping to keep indexes in check were stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry, which were mixed following last week’s scary swings.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the face of the AI boom, added 0.7%. It was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500 after dropping 4.1% last week.

But Oracle sank another 2.7% following its 12.7% tumble last week, which was its worst in more than seven years. Broadcom fell 5.6%.

AI stocks have been shaky on worries that the billions of dollars flowing into chips and data centers may not produce a big-enough payoff to make it worth it. The doubts are causing cracks for the industry, whose earlier surges was the main driver for the U.S. market’s rally to records.

Besides AI, the main focus on Wall Street this week will be on what several big updates on the U.S. economy’s health say.

On Tuesday will come the jobs report for November, and economists expect it to show employers added 40,000 more jobs than they cut during the month. Thursday will bring an update on the inflation, and economists expect it to show U.S. consumers paid prices that were 3.1% higher in November than a year before.

Such data is under the microscope because the Federal Reserve is trying to figure out if a slowing job market or high inflation is the bigger problem for the economy. The Fed is in a potentially tough spot because fixing one of those problems by moving interest rates would likely worsen the other in the short term.

The hope on Wall Street is that the job market weakens, but only by a little: enough to get the Fed to lower interest rates but not so much that a recession swamps the economy. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can give a boost to the economy and prices for investments, even if they also may worsen inflation.

“With the Fed still appearing to be more focused on labor-market weakness than inflation, we’re likely facing a ‘bad news is good’ scenario for the jobs report,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

“As long as the numbers don’t suggest employment is falling off a cliff,” that would mean the market would likely welcome soft numbers, he said.

The spotlight will be brightest on the unemployment rate, not the overall job growth numbers, because the latter is feeling downward pressure from a drop-off in immigrant workers. Economists expect Tuesday’s report to show the unemployment rate at 4.4%, which would keep it near its highest and worst level since 2021.

Treasury yields eased a bit ahead of the updates. A report earlier on Monday morning also said that a measure of manufacturing strength in New York state unexpectedly weakened, when economists expected to see continued growth.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.18% from 4.19% late Friday.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares of iRobot tumbled nearly 73% to $1.18 after the maker of Roomba vacuums said holders of its stock will likely face a total loss after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the weekend. The company has reached an agreement with its primary contract manufacturer, Picea, to buy it through a process supervised by a U.S. bankruptcy court.

All told, the S&P 500 slipped 10.90 points to 6,816.51. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 41.49 to 48,416.56, and the Nasdaq composite fell 137.76 to 23,057.41.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following weaker finishes in Asia.

Indexes fell 1.3% in Hong Kong and 0.6% in Shanghai after the Chinese government reported a drop in investment in factory equipment, infrastructure and other fixed assets. It’s the latest signal that demand in the world’s second-largest economy remains weak.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.3% after a quarterly survey of big manufacturers by the central bank showed a slight improvement in sentiment. That could encourage the Bank of Japan to go ahead with a hike to interest rates.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Specialists Alex Weitzman, left, and Meric Greenbaum work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Trader William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in suspected suicide bombings Monday night that targeted Maiduguri city in northeastern Nigeria, police said Tuesday. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the conflict-battered city in recent history.

Residents and emergency services earlier told The Associated Press that three explosions were reported in crowded places in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, including in a major market and at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

“Regrettably, a total of 23 persons lost their lives, while 108 others sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement that blamed the attacks on suspected suicide bombers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion quickly fell on the Boko Haram jihadi group, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to enforce their radical interpretation of Shariah.

Boko Haram has since become stronger, with thousands of fighters and different factions, including the Islamic State West Africa Province, which is backed by the Islamic State group.

Maiduguri city has been at the heart of the deadly violence but has in recent years experienced relative peace even as the countryside is often battered by extremists.

The attack took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian military repelled attacks by militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri, in what some residents say could have been planned as a distraction.

By Tuesday morning, there was heavy security deployment in the affected locations and along major roads in the city, but many public places remained closed amid heightened fear.

“Investigations are ongoing to further ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incidents and to bring perpetrators to justice,” the Borno police command said.

The first explosion was recorded at about 7:30 p.m. at the entrance of the teaching hospital, while the second and third followed few minutes later at the popular Monday Market and nearby Post Office business hub, both located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the hospital.

Witnesses recounted the chaos that followed at the scenes and at hospitals as security forces and the emergency services quickly intervened.

“This attack has been one of the deadliest in Maiduguri in years,” said Mohammed Hassan, a member of a volunteer group assisting security forces in fighting extremists. “We’re in dire need of blood,” he said of the situation hours after the attack.

The extremists have intensified their attacks against Nigerian military bases in recent weeks, killing several senior officers and soldiers, and stripping the bases of stocks of weaponry and ammunition.

The multiple attacks could be seen as a major victory for the jihadis in a city seen as impregnable despite the jihadis often targeting troops and villages on the outskirts of the city.

Past attacks in the city have been limited to one-off incidents that occur once in a long while, including a suicide attack that killed five at a mosque on Christmas Eve last year.

“Maiduguri being attacked is like an insult for the security forces ... and for the (jihadi) groups, it is symbolic because it shows nowhere is out of their reach,” said Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.

A security person patrols at the scene of Monday's bomb blast at a market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola )

A soldier inspects the aftermath of Monday's bomb blast at a market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola )

Police officers are seen at the scene of a bomb blast at a market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola )

An ambulance is seen at the hospital following a bomb blast in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo )