“U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday for a second session as data on U.S. private-sector job growth darkened views of the monthly nonfarm-payrolls report to be released in two days,” Kate Gibson reports for MarketWatch.
“‘More attention is being brought to the economic data, so everyone can play Nostradamus and guess what the Fed’s next move will be,’ Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, said of ongoing guessing as to when the Federal Reserve would begin tapering its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases,” Gibson reports. “Stock indexes remained deeply under water after the release of the Fed’s so-called Beige Book, which found the U.S. economy to be still growing at a ‘modest to moderate’ pace. ‘In the past few weeks, good news is bad, and bad news is bad, as we started to see talk of the tapering come through,’ said Sean Lynch, global investment strategist for Wells Fargo Private Bank.”
Gibson reports, “Apple Inc. shares shed 0.9% after the International Trade Commission found the iPhone maker infringed on a Samsung Electronics Co. patent, with Apple facing a possible import ban on some products… The Nasdaq Composite fell 43.78 points, or 1.3%, to 3,401.48. For every share rising, four fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 738 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3.6 billion. Revised government figures showed productivity rising 0.5% in the January-to-March period, and hourly compensation falling 3.8%. Wednesday’s data came ahead of Friday’s nonfarm-payrolls report, and added credence to the view that a soft labor market would extend the time frame before the Federal Reserve begins tapering its bond purchases.”
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