Oil price and inflation data drives Wall Street retreat
Wall Street went into retreat overnight, weighed down by falls in energy stocks and mixed economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average managed to claw back most of the day's losses by the close though and finished just under 0.1 per cent (10 points) lower at 18,214.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.15 per cent (3 points) to 2,111.
Energy stocks were among the biggest drags on the indices, as crude oil prices dropped on a report showing US crude stockpiles are still rising.
West Texas crude lost just over 5 per cent to $US47.60 a barrel.
On the data front, US headline inflation figures disappointed overnight.
The official data revealed the first fall in US consumer prices since 2009, down 0.1 per cent in January, as fuel prices continued to tumble and consumer demand remained muted.
However, core inflation remained steady at 1.6 per cent, boosting arguments that weak inflation was only transitory and would not prevent the Federal Reserve discussing a raise in interest rates.
Across the Atlantic, markets rose sharply helped by a surge in bank stocks.
London's FTSE 100 gained 0.2 per cent to close at another record high of 6,949 - its second for this week.
Other major European indices also gained strongly, led by a rise of 1 per cent for the German DAX to 11,327.
Australian stocks are set to rise modestly at the start of trade; the ASX SPI 200 was 0.1 a per cent higher at 5,885 at 8:30am (AEDT).
On commodity markets, while oil prices fell spot gold found support and rose to $US1,208.88 an ounce.
The Australian dollar continued to sink overnight after weak business investment figures increased the chance of an interest rate cut next week.
The dollar was down almost a cent from the same time yesterday at 77.88 US cents.
