Stocks weaken ahead of Powell speech Stock market today: Wall Street weakens ahead of a highly anticipated speech

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks weakened Thursday in the run-up to Wall Street's main event for the week: a speech Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The S&P 500 fell 50.21 points, or 0.9%, to 5,570.64 for its worst day following a two-week rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 177.71 points, or 0.4%, to 40,712.78 and the Nasdaq composite sank 299.63 points, or 1.7%, to 17,619.35.

Stocks fell following mixed data on the U.S. economy, which slowed under the weight of high interest rates meant to get inflation under control.

One report showed slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. The number is still low relative to history, but the uptick could signal that the job market continues to cool.

A second report suggested U.S. business activity remains deeply split. Growth for services businesses is accelerating, according to preliminary data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. But the country's manufacturing sector appears to be contracting at a more severe rate.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.86% from 3.80% late Wednesday.

The Fed pulled its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of restraining the economy enough to stifle inflation but not so much that it causes a recession. The wide expectation is that the Fed will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, which would be the first easing since the COVID-19 crash of 2020.

Powell will speak Friday at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that's been home to big Fed policy announcements in the past.

In the meantime, U.S. companies continue to report mostly better-than-expected profits for the springtime.

Internet-connected exercise company Peloton soared 35.4% after it topped sales forecasts and lost less money in the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Zoom Video Communications climbed 13% after delivering better results and revenue for the latest quarter than expected.

But more stocks fell on Wall Street than rose, including Nvidia, which was the heaviest single weight on the S&P 500. It erased an early gain to fall 3.7% ahead of its own highly anticipated profit report next week.

Snowflake fell 14.7% despite topping analysts' expectations for profit and revenue in the latest quarter.

Advance Auto Parts tumbled 17.5% after its profit for the latest quarter came up short of Wall Street's expectations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes made mostly modest moves across Asia and Europe. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2% after the Bank of Korea decided to keep rates unchanged.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was an outlier and jumped 1.4%.