NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed Wednesday as investors digested a weak private-sector jobs report and mostly upbeat corporate results.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 11 points, or 0.1%, to end at 13,268. The S&P 500 (SPX) shed 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,402.But the Nasdaq (COMP) edged up 9 points, or 0.3%, to 3,060.
A day after a strong report on manufacturing activity pushed the Dow to its highest close since December 2007, investors were hit with a grim reminder of the lackluster job market.
Payroll processor ADP reported tepid private-sector job growth in April, raising concerns about the government's monthly jobs report due Friday.
"The jobs data has been consistently weakening and this is just more confirmation of that trend," said Ryan Detrick, Senior Technical Analyst at Schaffer's Investment Research.
For the most part, stocks had been supported by better-than-expected corporate results for the first quarter. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far -- 68% have beat analysts' expectations, according to Capital IQ.
"The earnings boost is mostly behind us," said Bernard Kavanagh, vice president of portfolio management for St. Louis-based broker Stifel Nicolaus. "The likelihood is that more negative headlines will dominate the market in the next few weeks."
Fears about a so-called hard landing in China, a stalled U.S. recovery and a flare-up in Europe's debt crisis have been weighing on investors in recent weeks, leading to the worst monthly returns of the year in April.
The ADP report showed that the private sector added 119,000 jobs in April. That's considerably less than the forecast of 170,000 new jobs, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com. It's also a significant decline from the prior month, when the private sector added 201,000 jobs.
Unemployment across the 27-nation European Union remained at 10.2% in March, according to a government report Wednesday. But the 17-nation eurozone unemployment edged higher to 10.9%, from 10.8% in February. Both are record high rates for those areas since the creation of the common currency.
There are now 13 European nations struggling with double-digit unemployment, led by a 24.1% rate in Spain and 21.7% in Greece.
Readings were a bit better in Asia, as a closely watched measure ofmanufacturing activity in China improved slightly. But the HSBC survey of manufacturing executives still came in at 49.3 for April. While that's up from 48.3 in March, it is just below the 50 mark that indicates either growth or contraction in that key sector.
The dollar gained against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for June delivery slipped 94 cents to end at $105.22 a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $8.40 to settle at $1,654 an ounce.
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