Stocks slide after inflation and jobless reports

U.S. stocks fell slightly from record highs on Thursday after reports showed inflation was slightly higher than expected last month and more workers filed for unemployment benefits last week.

• The Dow fell 57.88 points, or 0.1%, to 42,454.12.
• The S&P 500 fell 11.99 points, or 0.2%, to 5,780.05.
• The Nasdaq fell 9.57 points, or 0.1%, to 18,282.05.

Stock prices had surged to record levels in large part on excitement over the rate cut, now that the Federal Reserve is cutting them as it expands its focus on keeping the economy afloat rather than just tackling high inflation, the AP reports . Lower interest rates slow the economy and stimulate investment prices. However, the pace of further cuts will depend on whether inflation continues to fall toward the Fed’s 2% target as expected. Thursday’s report showed inflation according to the consumer price index slowed to 2.4% in September from 2.5% in August, but economists expected an even steeper decline to 2.3%. And ignoring fluctuations in food, gasoline and other energy prices, the underlying trends that economists say may be a better indicator of where inflation is headed were slightly hotter than expected.

At the same time, a separate report showed that 258,000 U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. Although this number is relatively low by historical standards, the acceleration was stronger than economists expected. Hurricane Helene and a strike by Boeing workers may have contributed to the numbers looking worse. On Wall Street, Toronto-Dominion fell 5.3% after it agreed to pay $3.09 billion as part of a resolution to U.S. investigations into its money laundering compliance programs. Delta Air Lines fell 1.1% after reporting weaker summer results than analysts expected. The company said leisure bookings were strong but expects air travel to decline around the election.

(More Wall Street stories.)