U.S. stocks ended lower after wavering between gains and losses Wednesday, as Wall Street digested the Federal Reserve's Beige Book amid lackluster economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 157.14 points, or 0.92 percent, to 16,924.75. The S&P 500 lost 9.45 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,994.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 13.76 points, or 0.29 percent, to 4,782.85.
According to the Beige Book released in the afternoon, reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts point to continued modest expansion in economic activity during the reporting period from mid-August through early October. A number of districts cite the strong dollar as restraining manufacturing activity as well as tourism spending. Business contacts across the nation were generally optimistic about the near-term outlook. Some analysts thought that the Beige Book pointed to stalled growth in the economy and intensified worries about U.S. economic health.
On the economic front, the U.S. Producer Price Index for final demand dropped 0.5 percent in September, seasonally adjusted, exceeding market consensus of a 0.1-percent decline, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
"Oil price declines continue to trickle down the price pipeline, and the larger than expected declines in headline and core PPI will likely translate into softer than expected CPI data later this week," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for September increased 0.1 percent from the previous month to 447.7 billion U.S. dollars, on par with market expectations.
In corporate news, after Tuesday's closing bell, JPMorgan Chase reported net income of 6.8 billion dollars, or 1.68 dollars per share for the third quarter of 2015, on revenue of 23.5 billion dollars, missing market estimates. Its shares fell 2.53 percent to 59.99 dollars apiece Wednesday. Shares of Bank of America Corp. rose 0.77 percent to 15.64 dollars apiece Wednesday after the release of the company's quarterly results that beat market expectations. The bank posted a net income of 4.5 billion dollars, or 0.37 dollar per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2015, compared to a net loss of 232 million dollars, or 0.04 dollar per share for the same period last year.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 2.04 percent to end at 18.03 Wednesday.
In other markets, oil prices steadied as traders awaited the U. S. inventory data. The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved down 2 cents to settle at 46.64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery decreased 9 cents to close at 49.15 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.
The U.S. dollar decreased against other major currencies as the soft economic data from the country dampened market expectation for an interest-rate hike by year-end. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1478 dollars from 1.1383 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 118.82 Japanese yen, lower than 119.81 yen of the previous session.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as weak U.S. economic data gave support for the precious metal. The most active gold contract for December delivery went up 14. 4 dollar, or 1.24 percent, to settle at 1,179.80 dollars per ounce.
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