About 40 minutes after the start of trading, the S&P 500 was down 1.1 percent, while the Nasdaq was down 1.4 percent. The Dow Jones had fallen by 1.3 percent.

The purchasing managers’ index data published before five says that the economy in the United States grew in February contrary to expectations.

The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index score was 50.2 in February, while the consensus of economist forecasts collected by the news agency Bloomberg expected the score to be 47.5. Previously, the number of points was 46.8.

According to the interpretation, if the reading is over 50, the economy has grown compared to the previous month.

The better-than-expected figures raised interest rates on government bonds. The interest rate on the US ten-year bond increased from 3.894% to 3.937%.

On the other hand, five received new data from the housing market. According to statistics, 4.00 million units of old homes were sold in January in the USA on an annual basis, while economists expected 4.10 million homes to be sold. According to the revised figures, there were 4.03 million apartments for sale in December.

Walmart’s guidance weaker than expected

The chip company Intel said that it is moving forward with the order it placed with Taiwan Semiconductor. According to Digi Times, Intel would only order the three-nanometer chips in the last quarter of next year.

Intel shares opened 3.0 percent lower.

The department store company Wallmart reported on its results for the last quarter of last year. Comparable sales in the US increased by 8.3 percent, while the analyst consensus expected sales of 6.2 percent.

Adjusted operating profit increased from the comparison period by 6.9 percent to 6.4 billion dollars.

However, the profit guidance given by the company fell short of analysts’ expectations. The company expects earnings per share to be between $5.90 and $6.05 this year, compared to consensus expectations of $6.51 per share.

Walmart shares had risen 1.0 percent.