U.S. stocks saw their losses accelerate on Friday after the best day for equities this month, as investors reacted to an auto workers strike while digesting a fresh healthy economic data ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.
The central bank will release its latest economic forecasts Wednesday along with a decision on interest rates but is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged. More upbeat news about the state of the U.S. economy arrived early Friday in the form of the New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index. The manufacturing gauge which measures activity in New York state rose 21 points in September to 1.9, the regional Fed bank said Friday. Also, Fed data showed U.S. industrial production rose 0.4% in August, slightly better than economists had expected.
At the same time, the survey showed Americans think inflation will average 3.1% in the next year, down from 3.5% in the prior month and the lowest reading in two and a half years.