PARIS — Fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve could rein in its stimulus more aggressively than previously anticipated weighed on stocks Wednesday.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that companies added 238,000 jobs in the U.S. in December, up slightly from 229,000 in the previous month. November's figures were also revised higher.
While the numbers signal the growing strength of the world's largest economy, there are fears in the markets that they may prompt the Fed to speed up its plan to pare back its monthly financial asset purchases, which have kept a lid on borrowing rates over the past few years and shored up stocks. At its last policy meeting in December, the Fed took its first step to exit its current stimulus by deciding to trim its purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion this month.
"Fear of accelerated tapering has led to a slight sell-off," said Alex Conroy, a financial trader at Spreadex.
Investors were also likely viewing the ADP number skeptically, as historically they have not been the best guide to the official figures, which will be released on Friday.
The latest economic data from the eurozone wasn't able to buoy spirits, either. Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said retail sales in the eurozone jumped 1.4 percent in November, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate held steady at 12.1 percent for the eighth month running.
Although the figures suggest the eurozone recovery might pick up, the bloc still faces big problems — the unemployment rate is at a record high and there are huge disparities across the region.
France's CAC-40 ended the day flat at 4,260.96, while the DAX in Germany dropped 0.1 percent 9,497.84. Britain's FTSE index fell 0.5 percent to 6,721.78.
By the evening, the euro was down to $1.3586, although that price is still relatively high.
In late morning trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.3 percent at 16,476 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.1 percent to 1,839.
The drop in stocks appeared to weigh on energy markets. Benchmark crude fell 74 cents to $92.93.
Earlier, Asian stocks mostly rose. Asian traders tend to be very sensitive to the U.S. economy, and they may have been anticipating the strong payrolls number. In addition, a decline in the U.S. trade deficit for November, which was partly due to increased domestic oil production, has raised expectations that fourth quarter economic growth will be higher than 3 percent.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1.9 percent, closing at 16,121.45 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.3 percent to 22,996.59. Benchmarks in India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan also rose. China's Shanghai Composite lost early gains, closing 0.2 percent lower at 2,044.34.
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Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.
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