US stocks slipped in a volatile session on Thursday, reversing the prior session's modest bounce, as investors' diminishing appetite for risk hurt demand for equities.
Risk-taking fell out of favour as the yen's climb raised concern that investors were being forced to unwind trades based on borrowing at Japan's low interest rates. Investors gravitated to safer assets, like US Treasury bonds, with Tuesday's sharp sell-off in stocks still dominating the market's psychology.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 38.53 points, or 0.31 percent, at 12,230.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 3.44 points, or 0.24 percent, at 1,403.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 10.67 points, or 0.44 percent, at 2,405.48.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow industrials had sunk more than 200 points. But data showing unexpected strength in a gauge of US manufacturing helped pull stocks off their early session lows,
Investors bid up shares of companies seen as well-positioned to withstand slower economic growth, such as utility company Edison International But industrial conglomerates and large manufacturers, such as United Technologies Corp and Caterpillar Inc, featured among the session's biggest decliners.