U.S. stocks fell steeply Thursday, on track for a third consecutive losing session ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
Caterpillar Inc.
added pressure on Dow as it said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2018. The company's shares dropped 6.94%.
The Dow component was contributing about 30 points to the Dow’s triple-digit decline in early trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 218 points, or 1.3%, to 16,060, while the S&P 500 index fell 23 points, or 1.2%, to 1,914. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index sank 61 points, or 1.3%, to 4,692.
U.S. stocks finished in the red for a second straight session Wednesday, as a rally in crude oil fizzled out and the commodity closed at the lowest level in over a week. Oil prices were under renewed pressure Thursday after an early rebound attempt was reversed.
Meanwhile, data released earlier Thursday showed first-time claims for jobless benefits rose 3,000 to 267,000, which continued to offer signs of health in the jobs market, while a reading on durable-goods orders were weak, falling 2% in August.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is expected to give a speech at 5 p.m. Eastern at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and will speak on inflation dynamics
and monetary policy.
Investors are waiting for comments about last week’s policy meeting and the decision to leave interest rates on hold.
“Now that the September question has been put to bed the focus is now on December, and the latest Fed update wasn’t dovish enough to rule out at rate increase at the end of the year,” David Madden, IG market analyst, wrote.
