Stock market today: Wall Street weakens ahead of a highly anticipated speech

News Snapshot:

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks closed lower as Wall Street counted down to its main event for the week, a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell coming up on Friday. The S&P 500 lost 0.9% Thursday, its worst day in more than two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite gave back 1.7%. Stocks fell as Treasury yields cranked up the pressure in the bond market following some mixed data on the U.S. economy, which has been slowing under the weight of high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. THIS IS...