US stocks slip as private payroll data stokes concerns of stalling labor-market recovery

• US stocks slipped Wednesday as investors digested a report showing US companies added fewer jobs than expected in July.
• Robinhood is soaring in early morning trading, extending gains well above its IPO price for the second day in a row.
• SEC Chair Gary Gensler is calling on Congress to grant the agency more authority to regulate crypto.

US stocks slipped Wednesday as investors digested a report showing US companies added fewer jobs than expected in July, suggesting the continued struggle to hire workers amid the economic recovery.

US private-sector businesses added 330,000 jobs in July, ADP said in its monthly hiring report. The print fell well short of the 683,000-payrolls forecasted by economists, but still marked a seventh straight gain.

General Motors fell in premarket trading after reporting earnings that missed analyst estimates. Meanwhile Robinhood jumped as much as 15% in early morning trading as the newly public stock extends gains well above its IPO price for a second day.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,411.08, down 0.27%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 34,963.85, down 0.43% (152.55 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 14,762.62, up 0.01%

Bitcoin traded around $38,600 Wednesday morning, but one technical analyst sees the crypto jumping to $51,000 in a few weeks. Fairlead Strategies' Katie Stockton said in a note technicals are signaling a risk-on environment for bitcoin.

In other cryptocurrency news, SEC Chair Gary Gensler urged Congress to give the agency more authority to regulate the $1.6 trillion cryptocurrency market. "Frankly, at this time, it's more like the Wild West," said Gensler in a speech for the Aspen Security Forum. The SEC chief also told Bloomberg that investors need more protection against fraud and the SEC is looking at at least seven areas of the market, including DeFi and stablecoins.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.88%, to $69.23 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, slid 1.46%, to $71.35 per barrel.

Gold climbed as much as 0.93%, to $1831 per ounce.