The Dow shed more than 100 points as investors digest mixed economic signals in anticipation of Powell’s speech.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell on Wednesday as Wall Street waded into fresh economic data and awaited a speech this afternoon on the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The 30-share index lost 179 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2%.

Investors were exposed to conflicting economic reports on Wednesday morning. Payroll processing company ADP reported fewer job listings in October than expected, indicating a contract workforce. But while the Labor Department also said job vacancies decreased in the month, it said there were still more workers.

Another indication of the tightening economy came when October data from the National Association of Realtors showed the fifth straight month of declines in pending home sales. But that was tempered with the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s upward revision of third-quarter GDP, suggesting that the economy was stronger than previously thought.

“The data has been somewhat mixed,” said Edward Moya, chief market analyst at Oanda. “But it does show that there is a lot of resilience in this economy. And it still highlights the labor market which is weakening, but it’s still in relatively good shape. I think we’re not going to get any answers about what policy will be like at the end of next year based on these reports.” .

Investors are awaiting Powell’s speech at the Brookings Institution this afternoon which may give more insight into the central bank’s thinking about future rate hikes.

The Fed is due to meet later this month and is largely expected to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage point after four consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases to tame soaring inflation. Any sign of a pivot in future interest rate hikes is likely to send the markets higher.

“All eyes will be on Chairman Powell’s speech today, but we don’t think it will break any new ground,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of the Independent Advisor Alliance. “He wants the stock market down and is willing to take a recession in order to bring inflation back under control.”