S&P 500 edges lower

US stocks mixed on Thursday. After the significant averages gained for the third day in a row, traders paused as they awaited economic data on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 29 points, or 0.08 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3 percent. However, all major averages were still on track for a winning week.

Several travel-related stocks fell Thursday morning after leading the market higher all week. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line saw their stock prices fall by 1%. United Airlines had a 2% drop. Expedia and Booking Holdings, two companies that provide travel booking services, lost 1% of their value. 

Separately, American Airlines shares fell 1.8 percent after the company announced a schedule reduction due to the company’s continued reliance on Boeing Dreamliner deliveries. Boeing’s stock dropped more than 2%.

Rent The Runway’s stock dropped 12. This resulted from the company reporting soaring losses and lower-than-pre-pandemic subscriber growth in the most recent quarter. Lucid shares fell 4% after the company announced a $1.75 billion offering of senior convertible notes.

The moves come a day before the release of the Consumer Price Index for November by the Labor Department on Friday. Dow Jones economists polled expect the year-over-year growth rate to be 6.7 percent. If this is the case, it will be the most significant shift since June 1982.

Markets are already anticipating a high inflation reading. Some economists predict that the headline figure, including food and energy, could exceed 7%.

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The first step will accelerate the Fed’s monthly bond purchases. Markets expect the Fed to double the taper to $30 billion. It could pave the way for interest rate hikes as early as the spring of 2022, marking the Fed’s latest policy reversal under Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Labor Department reported that initial unemployment insurance claims totaled 184,000, compared to the 211,000.

The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, during regular trading on Wednesday, marking their third consecutive day of gains. According to MKM Partners, the S&P 500’s growth over the last three days is the strongest of the year. 

According to Dow Jones estimates, economists expect the report to show that prices rose 0.7 percent month over month in November.

With the introduction of the omicron variant, investors are now wondering what monetary policy will look like in the future.