By DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Author
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Thursday because the broader market continued pulling back from a surge earlier within the week.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 12:10 p.m. Eastern. The benchmark index continues to be on the right track for a 4.8% gain this week following its best two-day rally because the spring of 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 219 points, or 0.7%, to 30,053 and the Nasdaq fell 0.5%.
Treasury yields gained ground and put more pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and plenty of different kinds of loans, rose to three.82% from 3.75% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Federal Reserve motion, rose to 4.21% from 4.14% late Monday.
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Technology and health care stocks has a few of the biggest losses. IBM fell 1.4% and Johnson & Johnson fell 1.3%.
Energy stocks mostly rose as crude oil prices edged higher. Marathon Oil gained 2.4%.
Investors were reviewing the most recent data on the roles market. More Americans filed for unemployment advantages last week, the most important number in 4 months, in accordance with the U.S. government. However the labor market stays strong within the face of persistent inflation and a slowing overall U.S. economy.
Wall Street is watching employment data very closely because the Fed stays determined to boost rates of interest to try to tame the most popular inflation in 4 a long time. Investors are concerned that the Fed could go too far with its rate increases and push the economy right into a recession.
The job market has been a very strong area of an otherwise slowing economy. Any sign that it’s weakening could factor into the the Fed’s future decisions to either remain aggressive or ease up. Government employment data released on Tuesday indicated that the job market could also be cooling. A more closely watched monthly employment report, for September, might be released on Friday.
Wall Street analysts expect the federal government to report that the U.S. economy added 250,000 jobs last month, well below the typical of 487,000 a month over the past 12 months, but still a robust number that means the labor market is healthy despite chronic inflation and two straight quarters of U.S. economic contraction.
More broadly, the worldwide economy has also been hit hard by record inflation and lingering uncertainty over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That conflict continues to hold over energy costs worldwide, but especially for Europe. The International Monetary Fund is once more lowering its projections for global economic growth in 2023 and said the risks of a recession are rising.
Investors will soon get more information on just how hard inflation is squeezing businesses and consumers when corporations start reporting their third-quarter financial results this month. More importantly, Wall Street might be listening closely to what executives say about expectations for the rest of the 12 months and into 2023.
Joe McDonald and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
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