NEW YORK, Feb 25 — Wall Street stocks dipped early today as investors weighed concerns over higher US Treasury yields against improving economic data.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note pushed closer to 1.5 per cent amid worries that hefty US fiscal spending in a recovering economy will spark inflation.

Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell downplaying inflation concerns has mitigated those concerns the last two days, but Powell will not be speaking today.

That means “the market will have to muster its inner strength to feel the buy-the-dip force without relying on Powell to discover that force,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Advertisement

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 31,917.83, down 0.1 per cent and retreating slightly from yesterday’s record.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 3,919.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent to 13,579.05.

Data released early today showed a bigger-than-expected jump in durable goods orders in January and a sizeable drop in weekly unemployment claims; analysts cautioned that the jobless claims figures could have been distorted by bad weather last week.

Advertisement

Shares of GameStop were on another tear early today, rising more than 40 per cent after doubling in price yesterday.

Regulators and congressional committees are probing recent outsized jumps by GameStop and other select stocks following social media campaigns. — AFP