US stocks slip as traders weigh mixed data on economy
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US stocks slipped on Wednesday after a closely watched jobs report fell short of expectations and a top central banker issued a hawkish forecast.
Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 benchmark was down 0.3 per cent in the New York afternoon, easing back from an all-time high struck on Tuesday.
The lacklustre move came as investors digested a report from the Institute for Supply Management that showed the rate of activity growth in America’s services sector picked up sharply last month.
The headline number exceeded analysts’ expectations but details in the release noted “worsening labour and materials shortages”, feeding into investor fears over the fragility of the US economic recovery. Andrew Hunter, senior US economist at Capital Economics, also warned that the shortages “could push price inflation even…
