Wall Street Pulls Back as Investors Evaluate Economic Indicators
Wall Street pulled back on Thursday as investors evaluated key economic indicators ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week. A Labor Department report showed that U.S. producer prices rose more than forecast in November, but a moderation in service costs pointed to a continuation of the broader disinflationary trend.
Initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed last week, raising concerns about labor-market resilience. “Investors are just trying to suss out what is the Fed going to do next week? Is inflation really going to be a problem and the Fed has to really slow its role on rate cuts, or can they get there?” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
The Nasdaq had surged past the 20,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, driven by a strong rally in technology stocks. However, the market pulled back on Thursday, with the S&P 500 losing 0.54% to 6,051.25 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.66% to 19,902.84.
Megacap and growth stocks exhibited mixed results, with Nvidia declining 1.4% while Microsoft gained 0.1%. Adobe plunged 13.7% after forecasting fiscal 2025 revenue below Wall Street expectations, weighing on the broader technology sector.
Only consumer staples stocks gained among the 11 major S&P sub-sectors. Warner Bros. Discovery soared 15.4% after announcing plans to separate its declining cable-TV business from streaming and studio operations, while Centene rose 1.9% after forecasting its 2025 profit above estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.11-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 2.57-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 86 new highs and 154 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.61 billion shares, compared with the 14.17-billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.