Stocks are lower

Investing.com

Stocks opened lower and slid in early trading on Thursday.

Near 10:55 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 171 points (0.97%), the S&P 500 was down 17 points (0.84%) and the Nasdaq was down 43 points (0.92%).

Stocks closed virtually flat on Wednesday after sharp swings following the release of minutes from the Fed’s April meeting.

The Fed made specific mention of its forthcoming June meeting and said it could raise rates then if economic data warrants it.

This was a more hawkish tone than markets had expected. And between now and the June meeting, speeches from FOMC members take on heightened importance for signals on what the Fed is likely to do, according to Deutsche Bank’s Torsten Sløk.

Remarks from a speech by Fed vice chair Stanley Fischer were released this morning but had virtually no comments on monetary policy.

We also heard from New York Fed president Bill Dudley. According to Bloomberg, he told reporters that June is definitely a live meeting, and that a rate hike is reasonable if the economy meets his outlook.

He said he’s happy with what the market thinks about the odds of a rate hike in June or July, which jumped after the minutes crossed on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Gold fell 2%, or nearly $28 an ounce, to a three-week low of $1,244.50. Crude oil retreated 2%, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures falling to as low as $46.98 per barrel.

In economic data, initial jobless claims rose to 278,000 last week, down 16,000 but more than expected.

And, the Philly Fed’s manufacturing index fell to -1.8 from -1.6.