Stocks have a mixed day on news Trump might declare an 'economic emergency'

Stocks logged small gains Wednesday on two major indexes, despite uninspiring economic reports and some ominous words from the president-elect.

The S&P 500 finished the day up 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.1%. The price of bitcoin was down about 3% and hovered well below $100,000.

Stocks gained, barely, as traders shook off a day of mostly sour economic news.

The Federal Reserve released minutes of its December meeting, which showed that the panel sees a potential for inflation to linger. The minutes mention "recent elevated inflation readings" and a "high degree of uncertainty" in emerging economic data. Inflation has risen in two consecutive months .

All told, the word "uncertainty" appeared nine times in the Fed minutes, hardly a comforting sign for forecasters.

"Inflation is the wild card in 2025. There are lots of things that potentially have the risk to shift inflation back upward," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management, speaking to Reuters.

Earlier, a private-sector jobs report from ADP, the payment processing firm, showed a slower pace of job creation in December, and slower wage growth.

"The labor market downshifted to a more modest pace of growth in the final month of 2024, with a slowdown in both hiring and pay gains," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.

And then there was the CNN report that President-elect Donald Trump might declare a "national economic emergency" to allow for import tariffs. An emergency declaration would allow him to tax imports with a relatively free hand.

That news spooked investors, who were already on the lookout for unexpected economic turns as Inauguration Day approaches.

Tariffs could raise prices for American consumers, triggering renewed inflation. And investors are losing confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at their January meeting. Higher interest rates and inflation, together, could spell trouble for the economy.

Forecasters almost unanimously predict the Fed will not lower interest rates further at their January meeting, after a round of rate cuts late last year.

The stock market will be closed Thursday to mark a national day of mourning for the late President Jimmy Carter.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stocks mixed on news Trump might declare 'economic emergency'