US stocks waver, indexes remain in the red for the week

By DAMIAN J. TROISE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks teetered between small gains and losses in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday, which left major indexes well in the red for the week.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 10:17 a.m. Eastern. The benchmark index is down 3.1% for the week following the biggest pullback for the market in more than two years on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 110 points, or 0.4%, to 31,251 and the Nasdaq fell 0.3%.

Technology stocks were among the biggest weights on the broader market. Adobe slumped 12.3% after the software maker announced a $20 billion acquisition of a design company and issued a disappointing revenue forecast.

U.S. crude oil prices fell 2.9% and weighed on energy stocks. Hess fell 2.4%.

Railroad operators were mostly higher after a tentative labor agreement was reached, averting a strike across the country that could have been devastating to the economy. Union Pacific rose 2.6%.

Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps dictate where mortgages and rates for other loans are heading, rose to 3.44% from 3.40% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 3.83% from 3.79%.

Investors were digesting the latest report on retail sales, which gave a mixed view of how consumers are coping with the hottest inflation in four decades. The government report showed that retail sales rose an unexpected 0.3% in August after falling 0.4% in July. Inflation hurt several areas of spending, though, with business at restaurants still growing, but at a slower pace, while furniture and online sales fell.

Consumer spending has been a strong point in the broader economy, along with employment, as inflation continues to squeeze businesses and consumers. High prices and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive plan to raise interest rates as a solution remains Wall Street’s main focus.

A hotter-than-expected August report on consumer prices Tuesday spooked the market and dashed hopes that the Fed might consider easing its rate hikes. It was followed on Wednesday by a report that wholesale prices are still rising.

Investors worry rate hikes by the Fed could go too far in slowing the U.S. economy and send it into a recession. The central bank has already raised its benchmark interest rate four times this year, with the last two increases by three-quarters of a percentage point. Traders now see a 1-in-5 chance the Fed may hike its benchmark rate by a full percentage point next week, quadruple the usual move, according to the CME Group.