NEW YORK — More evidence that global economic growth is slowing pushed the U.S. stock market down for a third straight day Thursday.
The market fell sharply at the open, pushing stocks close to their lowest levels of the month, before rebounding during afternoon trading to close with only slight losses.
Caterpillar, a bellwether for industrial companies, fell sharply after cutting its sales outlook for this year and announcing that it would eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs to cut costs.
Also, the government reported that orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods dropped in August. A key category that tracks business investment plans was especially weak.
“We’re looking for that good news and we’re not getting any,” said John Toohey, vice president of equity investments at USAA.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.52 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,932.24. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 78.57 points, or 0.48 percent, to 16,201.32. The Nasdaq Composite fell 18.27 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,734.48.
The market has been in a funk for the past month as investors worry that slowing growth overseas, particularly in China, will hurt U.S. companies. A decision by the Federal Reserve to hold its benchmark interest rate close to zero last week also made investors uneasy.
Policymakers held the Fed’s benchmark interest rate despite an improving job market and a steady economy. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said after the meeting that worries about China and emerging markets were a factor in their decision. Many economists expected that the central bank would instead focus on the health of the U.S. economy.
Yellen said in a speech Thursday that she expects the Fed to begin raising interest rates by the end of the year. She also suggested that global economic weakness will not be significant enough to alter the central bank’s plan to raise its key short-term rate from zero by December. Her remarks came after the market had closed.
On Thursday, Caterpillar had the biggest decline in the S&P 500. The company slumped after cutting its 2015 revenue forecast by $1 billion to about $48 billion. Caterpillar also said sales would fall another 5 percent next year. The stock dropped $4.40, or 6.3 percent, to $65.80.
Automakers in Europe are suffering in the wake of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal. While VW’s stock closed flat on the day, fellow German carmaker BMW fell 5.2 percent after a report said one of its models had failed a test in Europe. Fiat Chrysler fell 7.5 percent.
In commodities trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 43 cents to $44.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oils imported by U.S. refineries, rose 42 cents to $48.17 a barrel.
