Investing.com – Though the Nasdaq hit a record high on Wednesday, buyers ran out of fuel and the major indices turned around in the early morning trade as economic data disappointed and investors looked forward to closing the books on May.
At 11:46AM ET (15:46GMT), the Dow Jones fell 39 points, or 0.18%, the S&P 500 lost 6 points, or 0.24%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded down 16 points, or 0.27%.
The three indices were still on track for monthly gains of around 0.2%, 1.0% and 2.1%, respectively.
Economic data released Wednesday dampened market sentiment as the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell more than expected to a four-month low in May.
April pending home sales too missed forecasts with an unexpected decline of 1.3% from the prior month.
Still ahead, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Beige Book will be released at 2:00PM ET (16:00GMT).
Meanwhile, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan repeated his view that a total of three rate hikes for this year was appropriate unlike with beginning to unwind the balance sheet.
With the Fed’s next policy decision two weeks away, markets are pricing in the odds of a rate hike at around 83%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
San Francisco Fed chief John Williams will speak at The Bank of Korea International Conference on global economic and financial challenges at 7:30PM ET (23:30GMT).
In big moves on earnings, Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS) led the decliners on the S&P 500 as that affordable luxury goods maker said it expects comparable sales to fall.
On the opposite side of the index, Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) jumped more than 5% as the 21% decline in the drug maker’s profit was less than feared.
Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) returned the second largest gains as the firm also beat on earnings. Shares were up around 3%.
Meanwhile, oil prices tumbled more than 3% Wednesday as a Reuters survey showed that OPEC oil output rose in May, the first monthly increase this year.
Higher supply from two OPEC states exempt from a production-cutting deal, Nigeria and Libya, offset improved compliance with the accord by others.
U.S. crude futures sank 3.38% to $47.98 by 11:49AM ET (15:49GMT), while Brent oil slumped 3.41% to $50.46.