WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but largely maintained a negative bias. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have moved back to the downside following the rebound seen in the previous session.
Currently, the major averages are off their worst levels of the day but still in the red. The Nasdaq is down 141.99 points or 0.8 percent at 17,506.46, the S&P 500 is down 24.47 points or 0.4 percent at 5,574.83 and the Dow is down 169.10 points or 0.4 percent at 41,181.83.
The weakness on Wall Street comes amid ongoing concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies after he suggested the U.S. would respond to the European Union's countermeasures with even more tariffs.
With the EU saying it would impose tariffs on approximately $28 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Trump indicated the U.S. would react with reciprocal tariffs
'Whatever they charge us with, we're charging them,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday. 'Nobody can complain about that.'
Trump later threatened in a post on Truth Social to impose a 200 percent tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of the EU in response to a 'nasty' 50 percent tariff on whisky.
Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in the month of February.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand was unchanged in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in January.
Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices slowed to 3.2 percent in February from an upwardly revised 3.7 percent in January.
The annual rate of producer price growth was expected to dip to 3.3 percent from the 3.5 percent originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report released by the Labor Department unexpectedly showed a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 8th.
'Financial markets are paying more attention to announcements from the White House about tariffs and job cuts than the hard numbers,' said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank.
Sector News
Software stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index down by 1.6 percent.
Adobe (ADBE) is leading the sector lower, plunging by 11.7 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings but providing disappointing second quarter guidance.
Considerable weakness is also visible among retail stocks, with the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index falling by 1.6 percent to a four-month intraday low.
Brokerage, computer hardware and networking stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold stocks have moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest weakness following the latest inflation data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.2 basis points at 4.328 percent.
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