Stocks Slip as Investors Look to Fed's Jackson Hole Meeting
25 August 2016 - 9:37PM
Dow Jones News
By Riva Gold
U.S. stocks drifted lower Thursday, with market attention
focused on the Federal Reserve's annual meeting at Jackson Hole,
Wyo.
Chairwoman Janet Yellen is set to give a speech at the central
bankers' conference on Friday. While little guidance on interest
rates is expected, investors will be watching for any clues on the
course of monetary policy or her assessment of the U.S.
economy.
Stocks and the dollar have been locked in a narrow range ahead
of the conference, with little else on the earnings or economic
calendar to steer direction. Investors are roughly evenly divided
on whether the Fed will raise rates in December, but few are
expecting a move at the bank's September meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 points, or 0.2%, to
18448. The S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost
0.1%.
The Nasdaq Biotechnology index fell 1.1%, extending losses from
Wednesday that were sparked by scrutiny over drug prices.
Mylan NV responded Thursday to a backlash over price increases
for its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment by promising to reduce
the costs that some patients pay, though the drugmaker stopped
short of saying it would roll back prices or limit future
increases. Mylan shares fell 0.7%.
Quarterly results from Dollar General and Dollar Tree pulled
down consumer-discretionary stocks in the S&P 500. Despite
benefiting from busier store traffic in past quarters, both
companies reported lower-than-expected sales growth Thursday.
Dollar General shed 18%, while Dollar Tree lost 9.9%.
Jeweler Tiffany & Co. said sales fell in the second quarter,
but it expects sales and earnings to improve in the second half of
the year. Tiffany was the top gainer in the S&P 500, rising
6.4%.
Earlier, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.8%. Germany's Ifo index, a
key indicator of the economy, fell sharply in August, disappointing
expectations for a slight increase.
"Given the relatively large downside surprise in the business
climate index, we presume that first negative signs of the U.K.'s
decision to leave the European Union are feeding through to the
German industry," strategists at Barclays wrote in a note.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6%, even as China's central
bank put more cash into the system through 14-day
reverse-repurchase agreements, which are effectively loans to
commercial banks.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.4% following recent declines
in commodities prices.
U.S. crude oil rose 1.2% to $47.33 a barrel after dropping for
two of the past three sessions. Gold dropped 0.3% at $1,320.10 an
ounce.
Despite the pullback in stocks, both the Dow industrials and the
S&P 500 remain near their all-time highs reached last week.
Some investors continue to question the rally.
"You can hardly see how you can move up from here," said Fabrice
Theveneau, head of global equities at Lyxor Asset Management. While
profits so far have been better than feared, companies could come
under pressure as wages rise, and the U.S. election could be a
source of market turbulence in the fall, he said.
--Daniel Huang contributed to this article.
Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 25, 2016 16:22 ET (20:22 GMT)
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