By Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. stock market staged a rebound
in the afternoon session Thursday, paring most but not all of the
losses by the end of the day.
A selloff in the morning after St. Louis Fed president James
Bullard's rate-hike comments sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average
down 119 points at session lows.
Bullard said that inflation may hit its 2% target and
unemployment may fall below 6% level by the year-end, well before
the Fed's 2015 estimates.
The S&P 500 (SPX) closed off 2.31 points, or 0.1%, at
1,957.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) dropped as much as
119 points, but recovered and closed 21.38 points, or 0.1%, lower
at 16,846.13.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) ended the day down less than a point
at 4,379.05.
Read the recap of MarketWatch's live blog of today's
stock-market action.
Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Investors,
said that economic data is positive but not great and QE tapering
is essentially a rate hike.
"The fact that we are approaching the targets on inflation and
unemployment at a moment when the economy is not particularly
healthy, is a source of anxiety for a lot of investors. Even as the
Fed says the rates will stay low, the tapering is essentially a
rate hike," Creatura said.
Thursday economic data were generally weaker than expected. The
number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits fell
slightly last week and remained near a postrecession low,
indicating that the nation's low pace of layoffs and an upturn in
hiring are likely to continue.
Separately, consumers splurged on new cars and trucks in May,
but not much else despite another solid month of income gains.
* Among, individual stocks, GoPro Inc. shares surged 31% to
$31.34 as the maker of the popular sport-digital cameras made its
debut as a public company Thursday. GoPro raised $427 million
selling 17.8 million shares at $24 a share in its IPO.
* Alcoa Inc. shares rose 2.7% after the aluminum company agreed
to buy Firth Rixon, which makes aerospace parts, for $2.85 billion
from a private-equity firm on Thursday.
* Iron Mountain Inc. shares surged 20% after the storage and
information management company on Thursday was approved to become a
real-estate investment trust.
* Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. shares slid 7.3% after the retailer
of home goods on Wednesday posted fiscal first-quarter results and
an outlook that missed expectations.
* In other market action, U.S. benchmark crude-oil futures fell
back below $106 a barrel on Thursday, marking its lowest close in
about two weeks. Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, putting an
end to a six-session string of gains that lifted prices to their
highest close in about 10 weeks.
* Major Asian stock markets finished higher, including a 0.3%
gain for Japan's Nikkei . The Stoxx Europe 600 was gave up earlier
gains and close lower.
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