The US government reopened after a record 43-day shutdown that had worried investors and disrupted the flow of economic data.
A growing number of Federal Reserve policymakers in recent days have signalled hesitation about further interest rate cuts, pushing financial market-based odds of a reduction in borrowing costs in December to near even.
Fed officials who spoke recently cited worries about inflation and signs of relative stability in the labor market after two US interest rate cuts this year.
“The fundamental question is, is tariff inflation transitory and a one-time deal? And whether it is or isn’t, that’s why some of the Fed governors don’t want to cut,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “It’s a risky bet either way, whether they cut or don’t cut.”
Shares fell for some of the US stock market’s strongest performers in recent years, as investors fretted about high valuations fueled by optimism about artificial intelligence.
Nvidia, Tesla and Broadcom all lost ground.
“There’s a lot of uncertainties about the state of the economy. What we’re going through is a little bit of a correction in the market in the AI sector and we’re seeing market rotation,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 113.05 points, or 1.65%, to end at 6,737.87 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 532.74 points, or 2.28%, to 22,873.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 797.29 points, or 1.64%, to 47,457.53.
Walt Disney tumbled after the media giant signalled it was preparing for a potentially prolonged fight with YouTube TV over distribution of its cable channels.
Cisco Systems rallied after raising full-year profit and revenue forecasts, betting on demand for its networking equipment.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Dow notched record high closes, benefiting from investors selling technology stocks and moving money into the health care sector.
Recently, data from payroll processor ADP showed private employers shed over 11,000 jobs a week through late October. Indeed Hiring Lab slides showed a 16% drop in retail-related job postings in October from a year ago, pointing to continued weakness in the labor market.
Traders are pricing in about a 47% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in December, lower than last week’s 70% probability, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
APA Corp gained after a report that Spain’s Repsol is considering a reverse merger of its upstream unit with potential partners, including the energy producer.
Memory device makers Western Digital, Seagate and SanDisk dropped after Japanese memory manufacturer Kioxia Holdings reported lower sales and profits.