Investing.com – Wall Street traded lower as investors digested a mixed bag of earnings reports and economic data on Thursday, while watching crude tumble 2% on profit-taking and the dollar hit four-month highs against the euro amid the European Central Bank’s policy decision.
At 11:54AM ET (15:54GMT), the Dow Jones fell 30 points, or 0.17%, the S&P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.35% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded down 22 points, or 0.44%.
The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) led the Dow lower on Thursday with losses of nearly 5% and 2.5%, respectively, after the blue-chip firms reported earnings.
The insurance company reported a 22.8% decline in profit, while the holding company slumped on disappointing new subscriber numbers.
Though outside the Dow, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) also dampened sentiment with shares plunging more than 10% on the back of a disappointing guidance.
On the upside, American Express (NYSE:AXP) led the Dow higher with gains of more than 9% as the credit card company produced a better-than-expected full-year forecast.
On the economic front, weekly jobless claims gave a disappointing read coming above estimates, but still showed a strong U.S. labor market.
Though manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region did tick lower in October, the drop was not as bad as feared.
Also on a positive note, existing home sales smashed estimates in September thanks to the surge in first-time buyers.
New York Fed chief William Dudley didn’t discuss monetary policy on Thursday in a speech dedicated to the way banks incentivize their employees.
Late Wednesday however, Dudley made it clear that he expects the Fed to hike rates this year.
The NY Fed chief was also scheduled for another appearance later on Thursday.
Odds for a rate hike in November hovered around 8% while they ticked up for a move at the December meeting to about 69%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Meanwhile, crude slumped more than 2% Thursday as traders locked in profits following a rally in the previous session when the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an unexpectedly large U.S. oil inventory drawdown last week.
Crude rallied on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settling at a 15-month high after the EIA said U.S. oil inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels last week, compared to forecasts for a stockpile build of 2.7 million barrels.
Oil was also under pressure as a committee meeting which would could the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that non-OPEC member Russia would also attend neared at the end of next week in Vienna.
The October 28-29 gathering was set up to hammer out preliminary details of the expected output cut at OPEC’s official meeting on November 30, but analysts were skeptical of their capability to reach a meaningful agreement and doubts over a Russia’s participation weighed on prices.
U.S. crude futures lost 1.93% to $50.82 by 11:55AM ET (15:55GMT), while Brent oil traded down 2.20% to $51.51.
Elsewhere, eyes were on EUR/USD hitting four-month lows after the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates on hold.
Though ECB president Mario Draghi said that the policy committee had not discussed the possibility of tapering or extending the asset purchase program, he revealed that his opinion that an abrupt end to the program was “unlikely”.