U.S. stocks go down amid mixed data

U.S. stocks continued to drop in the morning session Wednesday, as Wall Street was weighing mixed economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 104.83 points, or 0.58 percent, to 18,098.54. The S&P 500 fell 10.94 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,096.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 17.23 points, or 0.35 percent, to 4,962.67.

Investors were shifting the focus back to the progress of the U. S. economy and the implications for monetary policy, as earnings reporting season is drawing to a close.

The Automatic Data Processing private payrolls report, considered a pre-indicator of Friday's labor market report from the U.S. Labor Department, showed a gain of 212,000 jobs in February, which was below expectations and the slowest pace since August 2014.

The Non-Manufacturing Index registered 56.9 percent in February, 0.2 percentage point higher than the January reading, above market consensus of 56.5, representing continued growth in the non- manufacturing sector, said the Institute for Supply Management in its monthly survey.

Investors also kept a close eye on the Fed's Beige Book scheduled to be released Wednesday afternoon.

Overseas, the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday cut the key policy rate by 25 basis points, triggering optimism of stimulating selling and buying of expensive commodities like cars and homes.

U.S. equities pulled back from records Tuesday, with the Nasdaq below the psychologically important 5,000 level. Endite