US stocks fell on Wednesday as bond yields rose on the back of resilient economic data, with central bankers in both the States and Europe doing their best to temper expectations for imminent cuts to interest rates.
After a tentative start, US stocks finished with decent gains on Wednesday with the S&P 500 inching ever closer to its record high, though market sentiment was still cautious ahead of latest inflation figures due out the following session.
Huge gains from tech stocks and falling oil prices and bond yields ignited stocks on Monday, with the S&P 500 coming within 36 points of its all-time closing high.
US stocks dropped sharply on Wednesday with the Dow falling nearly 300 points after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting failed to give conclusive evidence of when the central bank might start to cut interest rates.