LONDON: U.S. stocks declined after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen spooked investors by warning of potential pitfalls for investors, referring to stock values as “quite high.”
But late-afternoon buying limited losses, and the main benchmarks closed only modestly lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.48% which briefly turned negative after dropping more than 170 points at session lows, closed 86.22 points, or 0.5%, lower at 17,841.98. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.40% lost 19.68 points, or 0.4%, to 4,919.64.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.45% closed 9.30 points, or 0.5%, lower at 2,080.16, with eight of its 10 main sectors trading lower, but was still positive for the year, up 0.5% year-to-date. Telecoms, utilities and technology stocks led the losses.
Traders had already been fretting after a lower-than-forecast ADP employment report raised nervousness among investors ahead of the more closely followed nonfarm payrolls report slated for Friday.
