|
NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks extended losses in the morning session Wednesday, as Wall Street digested generally downbeat economic reports ahead of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.
By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 104.90 points, or 0.61 percent, to 16,976.99. The S&P 500 fell 7.55 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,996.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 16.52 points, or 0.34 percent, to 4,780.09.
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.
On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index fell 1.1 percent for the 12 months ending in September, the eighth straight 12-month decline.
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.
"Bumpy retail sales and falling wholesale prices are changing the third quarter storyline. Most economists agreed with those at the Fed that saw a US economy able to withstand liftoff. This morning's release reduces confidence in that theory and goes against the consumer confidence surveys many were relying on," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.
Meanwhile, Wall Street keeps an eye on the Fed's Beige Book scheduled to release in the afternoon, for more clues on the timing of an interest rate hike.
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 nearly 3 percent around midday Wednesday.
Shares of Bank of America Corp. rose about 1 percent around midday 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.
