AP News, February 15th, 2007
Wall Street waffled Thursday, pulling back from early gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy may be growing stronger than anticipated.
The remarks dampened some enthusiasm sparked by his upbeat take a day earlier on inflation and economic growth, which catapulted the Dow Jones industrials to new highs as Bernanke alleviated worries that policy makers might start hiking interest rates again.
But those jitters returned to the markets Thursday, when Bernanke began a second day of congressional testimony Thursday morning and said a rate hike was still a possibility.
Trading was hesitant as many investors stayed in the sidelines ahead of the Philadelphia Fed's report on manufacturing, which is scheduled to be released at noon. A rate boost, however, looked unlikely according to economic data released Thursday, which showed a big jump in unemployment claims last week, and a huge drop in industrial output in January due to large cutbacks and layoffs in the auto industry.
In late morning trading, the Dow was up 9.93, or 0.08 percent, to 12,751.79, after reaching a new trading high of 12,768.69. On Wednesday, the Dow rose 87.01, setting new closing and trading highs and bringing its two-day advance to 189.31 _ the largest since August of last year.
Broader stock indicators were lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.83, or 0.06 percent, at 1,454.47, while the Nasdaq composite index was up 2.13, or 0.09 percent, at 2,490.51.
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