Stocks have moved mostly lower in early trading on Wednesday, extending the substantial move to the downside seen in recent sessions. The major averages have all slipped into negative territory, although selling pressure remains relatively subdued.
The major averages have seen some further downside in recent trading, falling to new lows for the young session. The Dow is down 21.12 points or 0.2 percent at 12,049.69, the Nasdaq is down 15.65 points or 0.6 percent at 2,685.91 and the S&P 500 is down 4.68 points or 0.4 percent at 1,280.26.
Overseas, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and Australia's All Ordinaries Index falling by 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend, however, edging up by 0.1 percent.
The major European markets have also shown notable moves to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.7 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are down by 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing strength on the day after ending the previous session nearly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is currently down by 4.2 basis points at 2.969 percent.
The early weakness on Wall Street comes as traders continue to digest comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who spoke at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta near the end of the trading day on Tuesday.
Bernanke acknowledged that the economic recovery has been "uneven" and "frustratingly slow" but did not indicate that the Fed is likely to take additional steps to prop up the economy.
"Overall, despite the slightly more downbeat tone on the economic recovery, Bernanke didn't offer any hints that QE3 could be coming soon," said Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics. "Somewhat surprisingly, he even admitted that 'monetary policy cannot be a panacea.'"
Ashworth added, "We wouldn't completely rule out QE3, but not until next year at the earliest and even then only if the Fed is trying to offset what Bernanke warned today could be 'an increasing fiscal drag on the recovery.'"
The selling pressure may also be due in part to news that the World Bank lowered its global economic growth forecast for 2011 to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent, citing the political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East and the natural disaster in Japan.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is due to release its Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts, at 2 pm ET. The report is typically released about two weeks before the monetary policy meeting is held.
Networking stocks are seeing considerable weakness in early trading, with Ciena (CIEN) leading the way lower after reporting a wider than expected second quarter loss and forecasting weaker than expected third quarter revenues. Shares of Ciena are currently down by 12.5 percent.
Electronic storage, semiconductor, and gold stocks have also come under pressure, moving to the downside along with most of the major sectors. On the other hand, some oil stocks are bucking the downtrend amid a sharp rise by the price of crude oil.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.