Stocks were flat Thursday as Wall Street weighed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on the central bank continuing to fight inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 37.31 points to open Thursday at 31,543.97
The S&P 500 dipped 3.89 points to 3,975.39
The NASDAQ Composite fell 16.13 points to 11,775.84.
Stocks slid during a Q&A session from Powell at the Cato Institute where he reiterated that the central bank will do what it takes to fight inflation. He also signaled that a pause in rate hikes or a pivot to cutting interest rates is not coming soon.
Earlier in the morning, the European Central Bank hiked interest rates by 0.75 percentage point, raising its deposit to 0.75% from zero, in a largely expected move to tamp down inflation.
The stock market is coming off a solid rebound. On Wednesday, the major averages posted their best day since Aug. 10, with the NASDAQ snapping a seven-day losing streak.
Still, stocks remain in a downtrend overall as concerns about a slowing economy and further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve are pushing some investors away from riskier parts of the market.
Shares of Regeneron jumped more than 13% Thursday after the company announced that its eye drug, Eylea, performed well in two pivotal trials testing the medication for use for patients with diabetic macular edema and wet age-related macular degeneration.
Treasury prices nosed up, lowering yields to 3.26% from Wednesday's 3.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices gained $1.37 to $83.31 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $10.70 to $1,717.10 U.S. an ounce.