US stocks edged back from their records Thursday after reports showed inflation was a touch warmer last month than expected and more workers filed for unemployment benefits last week.
- The Dow fell 57.88 points, or 0.1%, to 42,454.12.
- The S&P 500 fell 11.99 points, or 0.2%, to 5,780.05.
- The Nasdaq fell 9.57 points, or 0.1%, to 18,282.05.
Stocks had stormed to records in large part on excitement about easing interest rates, now that the Federal Reserve is cutting them as it widens its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation, the AP reports. Lower rates ease the brakes off the economy and juice prices for investments, but the pace of further cuts will depend on if inflation continues to head down toward the Fed's 2% target as it expects. Thursday's report showed inflation slowed to 2.4% in September from 2.5% in August, according to the consumer price index, but economists were expecting an even sharper slowdown to 2.3%. And after ignoring the swings for food, gasoline and other energy prices, underlying trends that economists say can be a better predictor for where inflation is heading were a touch hotter than expected.
At the same time, a separate report showed 258,000 US workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. That number is relatively low compared with history, but it was a sharper acceleration than economists expected. Hurricane Helene and a strike by workers at Boeing may have helped make the number look worse. On Wall Street, Toronto-Dominion fell 5.3% after it agreed to pay $3.09 billion as part of a resolution of U.S. investigations into its compliance programs related to money laundering. Delta Air Lines lost 1.1% after reporting weaker results for the summer than analysts expected. The company said bookings for holiday travel are strong, but it's anticipating a drop in flying around the election.
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