Meanwhile, selloff momentum fuelled further amid worries about inflation, which were exacerbated by a report from the Labor Department showing the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to the highest rate since January 1982, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise key interest rates at its meeting next week to prevent the economy from overheating.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined 112.18 points, or 0.34%, to 33,174.07. The S&P500 index dropped 18.36 points, or 0.43%, to 4,259.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index sank 125.58 points, or 0.95%, to 13,129.96.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 1937 to 1360 and 136 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1699 issues advanced, 2892 issues declined, and 295 issues unchanged.
Total 6 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing industries were information technology (down 1.76%), consumer staples (down 0.89%), financials (down 0.8%), and communication services (down 0.75%) issues, while top gaining issues included energy (up 3.07%) and consumer discretionary (up 1.16%).
Energy stocks rallied, even though the price of crude oil turned lower over the course of the session, as peace talks in Ukraine showed little progress. Retail, steel and gold stocks also moved to the upside over the course of the session.
Financials were lower with Goldman Sachs shares leading losses after announcing it would become the first major U.S. investment bank to close its operations in Russia.
Tech sector was worst performances on the day, exception being Amazon with shares finishing up more than 5% after the e-commerce giant announced a 20-for-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Inflation Hits Fresh 40-Year High Of 7.9% In February- The annual rate of consumer price growth in the US accelerated to 7.9% in February from 7.5% in January, reaching the highest rate since January 1982, the Labor Department on Thursday showed. The faster year-over-year price growth came as consumer prices climbed by 0.8% in February after rising by 0.6% in January. The monthly advance in consumer prices was led by a spike in energy prices, which shot up by 3.5% in February after climbing by 0.9% in January. Food prices also showed a notable increase, jumping by 1.0% in February following a 0.8% advance in the previous month. Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.5% in February following a 0.6% increase in January. A 0.5% increase in prices for shelter contributed to the core price growth along with higher prices for recreation, household furnishings and operations, motor vehicle insurance, personal care, and airline fares. The annual rate of core consumer price growth accelerated to 6.4% in February from 6.0% in January, showing the fastest growth since August 1982.
US Weekly Jobless Claims Tick Higher- US first-time claims for unemployment benefits saw a modest increase in the week ended March 5th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report showed initial jobless claims crept up to 227,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 216,000. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also inched up to 231,250, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 230,750. Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also rose by 25,000 to 1.494 million in the week ended February 26th.
Among Indian ADR, Wipro fell 0.39% to $7.57, HDFC Bank sank 3% to $57.33, ICICI Bank fell 1.3% to $17.66, Tata Motors shed 1.95% to $26.12, and WNS Holdings dropped 0.17% to $84.14, and Dr Reddy's Labs sank 1.77% to $50.56. INFOSYS shed 0.25% to $23.84 and Azure Power Global dropped 9.45% to $18.30.
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