Stocks Slide at the Open as Payrolls Chatter Builds and Big Buybacks Hit the Tape

U.S. stocks edged lower early Thursday, with investors balancing a hotter-sounding payrolls backdrop against company-specific news in chips and blue-chip buybacks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 287.01 points, or 0.59%, to 48,452.4, while the S&P 500 slid 15.69 points, or 0.23%, to 6,853.81. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 30.63 points, or 0.13%, to 22,776.9, leaving the tech-heavy index comparatively steadier in the opening stretch of trading.

Macro attention is already drifting to the next jobs read, as Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, flagged a rebound in the Chicago Business Barometer as a potential signal that February hiring could surprise to the upside.

Slok wrote that the February survey showed strong improvements in “production, employment, new orders and deliveries,” and argued that the trend could imply nonfarm payrolls materially above the 58,000 increase expected by consensus. He also pointed to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” effective Jan. 1, could lift 2026 GDP growth by 0.9%, suggesting investors may be underappreciating the growth impulse.

In corporate news, Broadcom’s results and AI messaging helped keep the semiconductor complex in focus. aInvest highlighted Broadcom's quarter as a mix of modest upside versus estimates and a notably stronger revenue outlook, including an approximately $22.0 billion fiscal second-quarter guide and a new $10 billion buyback authorization running through December 2026, alongside management’s “line of sight” language around AI chip revenue exceeding $100 billion in 2027.

Separately, Berkshire Hathaway returned to repurchasing its own shares, according to a regulatory filing cited by CNBC, while incoming CEO Greg Abel bought $15 million of Berkshire stock. Abel described coordinating the timing with Warren Buffett in an interview, telling CNBC: “I absolutely talked to Warren,” and adding that he consulted Buffett after forming a view of intrinsic value and the timing.

With index moves muted but negative, traders appeared to be treating Thursday’s tape as a crosscurrent session—macro-sensitive positioning into labor data on one side, and high-profile corporate signals on the other.