Investing.com – Wall Street was wavering downward after a flurry of economic reports.
The S&P 500 was down nine points or 0.36% to 2,701.32 as of 9:45 AM ET (14:45 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 133 points or 0.53% to 24,878.24, and techheavy NASDAQ Composite fell over 37 points or 0.51% to 7,231.35.
Markets had mixed results to a flurry of economic data. U.S. consumer spending slowed in January, only rising 0.2% compared to 0.4% in December, the Commerce Department said. Inflation was at 1.5% while personal income rose 0.4%, the same as the prior month.
Another report showed that jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 210,000, the lowest level since 1969.
Wall Street fell in the red Tuesday and Wednesday after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday. Powell told Congress he thought the economy had strengthened, leaving investors worried that the central bank may hike up interest rates four times instead of three.
The Fed chair testifies on the hill again today, speaking before the Senate Banking Committee at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) was among the top gainers in trading, rising 5.17% amid news that U.S. President Donald Trump could impose a 25% tariff on all steel imports. Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) rose 1.17% after higher than expected quarterly results and Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) jumped 3.93%.
Elsewhere airplane maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) was down 1.07% while Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) fell 1.00% and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) dipped 1.14%.
In Europe stocks were down. In Germany the DAX fell 224 points or 1.81% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 62 points or 1.18% and in London the FTSE 100 lost 76 points or 1.06%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 113 points or 1.15% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched down 43 points or 1.26%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.82% to $1,307.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 1.54% to $60.69 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.21% to 90.80.