By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks fell in early trading and then turned higher on Thursday as investors tried to digest a slug of economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.
At 9:50 ET (13:50 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 45 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 was flat and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.1%.
August’s retail sales report showed a gain of 0.3%, surpassing forecasts and a strong showing for the consumer despite inflation. Meanwhile, new jobless claims came in at 213,000 last week, also beating expectations.
A strong labor market, the gain in retail sales, and a hotter-than-hoped-for August inflation report are pointing in the direction of another 0.75 percentage point interest rate increase from the Fed, which would match the hikes from June and July. Some are even talking about the possibility the Fed hikes rates by a full percentage point in its quest to tame inflation.
A tentative agreement to avert a railroad worker strike is lifting shares of railroads, including Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP), up 1.5%, and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC), up 1.3%.
Oil fell. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down more than 3%, to $85.75 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude was down 3% to $91.17 a share. Gold Futures fell 0.9% to $1693 an ounce.