STORY: U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday as investors awaited further economic data and signals on upcoming interest rate cuts.
The Dow dropped seven-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 slid two-tenths and the Nasdaq ended flat.
The three main indexes were positioned for monthly gains after the Federal Reserve’s rate cut on Sept. 18 bolstered hopes for a soft landing.
But weak consumer sentiment data this week fed into slowing labor market fears, with stocks on Wednesday giving back some recent gains.
Mike Mussio is president of FBB Capital Partners.
“We’re in a little bit of a lull here now. It was Fed, Fed, Fed, and now we’re kind of waiting on inflation and employment [reports]. Both of those figures we’ll get some information on here in the next, you know, six… five or six trading days. [FLASH] So steady as she goes. As investors, we should be happy to get through the month of September, which is historically the worst month of the year statistically, for markets.”
Stocks on the move included Amgen, down five and a half percent, following mixed data on two drugs, sparking concerns over heightened competition.
Shares of Apple ended lower as annual iPhone sales slipped in China, according to data from a government-affiliated research firm.
Shares of KB Home slipped more than five percent after the company posted a downbeat third-quarter profit.
And shares of Ford and General Motors each fell more than 4% after Morgan Stanley lowered its recommendations on the automakers.
On the flip side, Hewlett Packard Enterprise topped the S&P 500 with a more than 5% gain after Barclays upgraded the stock’s rating.
