Stocks mixed on hiring report

Investors are making few moves in early trading Wednesday after a private group's report showed job cuts declined in November for the eighth straight month, but not as much as forecast. Major stock indexes are wavering after the ADP National Employment Report said 169,000 private sector jobs were lost in November, slightly worse than the 160,000 cuts expected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. The eighth straight decline in job losses provides further evidence the U.S. economy is recovering, but at a slow pace. A stabilization in job losses and eventual rehiring of workers is considered vital to a continued recovery. The ADP report is considered a harbinger of the government's closely watched monthly employment report, which is due Friday. Economists are expecting the unemployment rate remained flat at 10.2 percent last month. Later Wednesday, investors will look to the Federal Reserve's assessment of regional economic activity for further insight into the strength of the recovery. Trading has been volatile in recent days as investors try to assess whether the massive gains in the stock market since early March are reflective of the economy's strength. Worries over debt problems in Dubai caused a temporary halt in buying last week. Those fears have since subsided, but there are lingering concerns about whether the economic recovery will be sustainable. In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 10.05, or 0.1 percent, to 10,461.53 after surging past the 10,500 mark on Tuesday for the first time since last October. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.63, or 0.1 percent, to 1,108.23, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.07, or 0.3 percent, to 2,181.88.