Following data that revealed producer prices unexpectedly increased last month, the US market indexes fell on Thursday. This strengthened the argument against an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve's policy meetings in March and May.
According to earlier government data, producer prices increased at their quickest rate since September 2023 in February, rising 1.6% from 1% in January.
Producer prices increased by 0.6% on a monthly basis in January and by 0.3% in February.
In other news, US unemployment claims decreased to 209 thousand in the week ending March 9, compared with analysts' projections of a 218 thousand increase.
Lastly, following a 1.1% decline in January, US retail sales increased 0.6% m/m in February.
The US economy remains robust and healthy despite rising interest rates, as seen by all the data, which strengthens the argument in favour of keeping interest rates steady for a longer period of time this year.
As of 15:26 GMT, trade has seen the Dow Jones drop 0.3%, or 99 points, the S&P 500 fall 0.3%, or 17 points, to 5148, and the NASDAQ give up 0.2%, or 28 points, to 16149.
