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TAKING THE QUANTUM DIVE

Wall Street's main indexes are modestly lower early on Wednesday as investors digest a softer-than-expected ADP private payrolls number, while taking stock of a report that said President-elect Donald Trump was mulling a national economic emergency declaration.

Fed governor Christopher Waller said inflation should continue falling in 2025 and allow the central bank to further reduce interest rates, though at an uncertain pace.

Minutes from the Fed's December meeting are due at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, traders are eyeing the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR. So far, it has failed to punch above its April 2024 high at 4.7390%. The yield has since backed away to around 4.69%.

All S&P 500 .SPX sectors are red, though only one group, utilities .SPLRCU, is off more than 1%.

Banks, .SPXBK, .KRX, chips .SOX, and small caps .RUT are on the weak side, while gold stocks .HUI are gaining.

Of note, more speculative stocks are under heavy pressure, with quantum computing plays being taken to the woodshed. This after Nvidia NVDA.O CEO Jensen Huang said computers based on the emerging technology are as much as 30 years away.

Here is a price-weighted composite of IONQ IONQ.K, Rigetti RGTI.O, Quantum Computing QUBT.O and D-Wave QBTS.K. After a parabolic rise into its early January high, this composite is down more than 40% in early trade!

Here is an early market snapshot from around 10:15 a.m. ET:

(Terence Gabriel)

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FOR WEDNESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

BENCHMARK TREASURY YIELD CHALLENGING ITS APRIL 2024 HIGH - CLICK HERE

BOFA SEES UPSIDE FOR UK BANKS - CLICK HERE

YIELD AND TRUMP JITTERS KNOCK STOCKS - CLICK HERE

BANKS: "MUCH MORE TO GO IN 2025" - CLICK HERE

US TARIFFS? TRANSACTIONAL FOR EUROPE, PUNITIVE FOR CHINA - CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN DEFENCE NAMES BOOST STOXX, OIL NAMES CAP GAINS - CLICK HERE

STRONG DOLLAR, RISING YIELDS HOG THE SPOTLIGHT - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES FALTER AS TRUMP, JOBS DATA IN FOCUS - CLICK HERE

(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)