The Nasdaq and the Dow fell slightly on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 made no progress in either direction as a stronger-than-expected employment report eased worries about the economy but also fuelled bets ⁠that the US Federal Reserve could slow its interest-rate cuts.

Wall Street's three main indexes had started the session on a strong note, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting their highest level in more than a week after the closely watched payrolls report showed much faster than expected US job growth in January while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent.

However, gains subsided as traders dialled back on bets for rate cuts. While traders are still banking on at least one 25-basis-point cut in June, the probability that rates would hold steady that month crept up to 41 percent from 24.8 percent, according to the latest data from CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Julia Hermann, global market strategist at New York Life Investments, said that investors digested changes to rate cut bets "quite well" because they interpreted the strong jobs report as good news ⁠for the economy.

"This is constructive news in that the economy is not in dire need of rate cuts because ⁠the jobs market has been showing some new ⁠signs of life," she said. "It comes down to the sweet spot of hiring being strong enough to show us the economy is resilient but not so strong as to derail expectations for future Fed easing."

Investors will next turn their attention to the January Consumer ⁠Price Index (CPI) inflation report, which is due out on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent, to 6,941, the Dow fell 0.1 percent, to 50,121, while the Nasdaq fell 0.2 percent, to 23,066. (Reuters)