U.S. stocks are wobbling to start a new month as new economic data loom

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S stocks are wobbling to start a new month after ending February on a down note.

At 10:39 ET (15:39 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 18 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.3%.

Investors are worried that the Federal Reserve will have to raise rates more than expected to tame inflation after hotter-than-expected data. Two-year Treasuries hit a four-month high earlier on Wednesday.

Futures traders are now betting that the Fed will raise rates to 5.25% to 5.50% by the end of the summer, higher than the central bank itself forecast as recently as December. The current range is 4.50% to 4.75%, implying at least two more quarters of percentage point hikes starting in March.

ISM manufacturing data for February was slightly weaker than expected at 47.7 versus the forecast for 48. The reading was higher than the 47.4 reported earlier. The jobs report for February is due out next week.

Shares of COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) tumbled 25% after it said it might not be able to stay operational. It is slashing spending as it prepares to roll out a vaccine for the fall. Shares of Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) rose 1.7% after it agreed to cut the price of insulin by 70% after pressure from President Joe Biden to lower the cost of diabetes treatment.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) shares were down 5.5% after the movie theater chain reported a drop in revenue and said industry box office sales might take longer than expected to recover from the pandemic.

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.3% to $77.28 a barrel and Brent Oil Futures were up 0.5% at $83.90 a barrel. Gold Futures were up 0.6% to $1,848.