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US STOCKS END LOWER; POWELL SAYS NO NEED FOR FED TO RUSH RATE CUTS

U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, with indexes adding to losses after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank does not need to rush to lower interest rates given ongoing economic growth, a solid job market, and inflation that remains above its 2% target.

Traders still expect a 25-basis point reduction at the Fed's December meeting, but the probability sank to 55.5% from 76% earlier in the afternoon, the CME FedWatch tool showed.

Powell made the remarks at a Dallas Fed event.

"It's hard to be super dovish with the reports we've gotten in the last two days - consumer prices, producer prices and the weekly jobless claims. All of that points to still decent job growth and sticky inflation, above the 2% target," said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois.

Data before the open showed U.S. producer prices picked up in October, lifted by higher costs for services like portfolio management and hospital outpatient care, further evidence that progress toward lower inflation was stalling.

A separate report showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ended Nov. 9.

Industrials .SPLRCI was down the most among S&P 500 .SPX sectors, with RTX Corp RTX.N down 3.9%, and General Dynamics GD.N down 6.7%.

Stocks had rallied in the wake of last week's U.S. presidential election and focus on potential policy changes under President-elect Donald Trump.

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

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