US stocks are mixed as bond yields rise again

It's jobs week, so that means we're kicking things off with the ADP employment report for February this morning. And It missed expectations. Ugh.

117,000 private-sector jobs were added to the economy last month, the report says —a good clip fewer than the 177,000 economists had expected.

Even though the ADP report and the government's official look at the labor market due Friday morning aren't correlated, the former is a bit of a bellwether for how the official numbers might look.

Mid-sized companies, as well as the trade, transportation and utilities sector, saw the biggest job gains.

Meanwhile, the January ADP report was revised up, with 195,000 jobs added versus the 174,000 initially reported.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), the upscale resort and casino company founded by the late Sheldon Adelson, is leaving its namesake city and selling its two Nevada properties in a $6.25 billion deal.

Apollo Global Management and Vici Properties are partnering to buy the Venetian, a 7,000 room resort on the Las Vegas Strip, and the nearby Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Las Vegas Sands is shortening its name to Sands as a result of leaving Las Vegas. In a press release, Adelson's company said the change is "bittersweet" and will help it focus on faster growing markets, such as Asia.

Sands shares spiked nearly 3% in premarket trading.

Read more here.

US stocks are rebounding after closing in the red on Tuesday. A mix of travel, banking and energy stocks are buoying the gains.

Here's where things stand as of 6:30 am ET:

Inflation concerns have led to more volatility in the stock and bond markets of late.

That should be good news for gold, a tangible asset with a limited supply that often does well in times of inflation. Central banks can always print more money. Miners can't just magically create more gold.

But gold has recently lost some of its luster thanks to a new financial kid in town: bitcoin. Gold prices are down about 9% this year and are trading nearly 15% below the all-time high of more than $2,000 an ounce set last summer.

Meanwhile, bitcoin has soared nearly 70% and is currently hovering just below $50,000 per coin — not far from the record high it reached last month.

Still, fans of gold think the yellow metal is due for a rebound — even if bitcoin continues to march higher as well.

Read more here.

UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is preparing to deliver a crucial budget in the wake of the economy's worst slump in more than three centuries, the messy Brexit divorce from its largest trading partner and increasingly strained government finances.

Sunak will announce later on Wednesday that emergency support measures for workers and businesses are being extended, while making the case that public finances will need to be repaired once the country's rapid vaccine rollout has eased the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK government has borrowed vast sums of money to fund nearly £300 billion ($419 billion) in fiscal stimulus over the past 12 months. Total government debt has soared to £2 trillion ($2.8 trillion), or close to 100% of GDP, a level not seen since the 1960s, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Read more here.