NEW YORK — U.S. stocks edged back from their records Wednesday as financial markets around the world took a pause following big recent moves.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% a day after setting an all-time high for the 41st time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 293 points, or 0.
7%, after likewise setting a record the day before, while the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. Treasury yields ticked higher in the bond market after sinking the prior day on a surprisingly weak update on confidence among U.
S. consumers. The worst drop in three years raised worries about the U.
S. economy's strength, but it also raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to deliver another dose of bigger-than-usual relief through a big cut to interest rates at its next meeting. The drop may also not be as bad as it looks, at least for financial markets.
The worst losses in confidence have been concentrated among lower-income households, who have had to put more purchases on credit cards, according to Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset. But when it comes to the economy, and potential profits for companies, top earners account for more spending on non-essentials, and their confidence appears to be holding up better. In stock markets abroad, indexes moved more modestly after jumping the day before on hopes that new stimulus measures from China would prop up the world's second-largest economy.
Chinese indexes rose again Wednesday, but they pared their gains as the day.