Global markets status: US stocks slightly degrades before release of inflation report

Ahead of an inflation report that was scheduled for later this week, US markets slightly declined on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 was down 14.78 points, or 0.29 percent, at 5,063.40, the Nasdaq Composite was down 66.84 points, or 0.42 percent, at 15,968.46, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 204.74 points, or 0.53 percent, at 38,767.67 at 09:35 a.m. ET.

While the price of bitcoin continued to rise, Coinbase saw a 3.7% gain.

An app for dating and creating friends Bumble’s stock fell 4.4% on the release of its less impressive quarterly earnings. 8.4% of Urban Outfitters’ stock fell as a result of the retailer’s worsening earnings announcement.

Following the release of a higher-than-expected fourth quarter loss, Novavax saw a steep decline of 28.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34.33 points, or 0.09 percent, to 38,938.08 at the opening bell. The Nasdaq Composite fell 66.16 points, or 0.41 percent, to 15,969.14, while the S&P 500 opened lower by 10.98 points, or 0.22 percent, at 5,067.20.

Treasury rates remained stable following data that indicated US economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 was little less than anticipated.

Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.7% to 7,631.30 points in Europe. The CAC 40 of France fell 0.1% to 7,942.68. The DAX in Germany increased by 0.1% to 17,579.69.

The Euro Stoxx 50 dropped 0.1% to 4,880.62. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5% to 16,536.85 on Asian stock markets. The Shanghai Composite of China fell 1.9% to 2,957.85. Nikkei 225 of Japan fell 0.1% at 39,208.03.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were trading at $78.04, down 83 cents, or 1.05 percent.