Sawt Falasteen - US stocks slip before inflation data, as bitcoin breaks $60,000

"It looks as if some investors have decided to use this week's pause in the equity market rally to take money off the table," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

In New York, all the main indexes slipped lower, though the wider S&P 500 fell less than the Dow and the Nasdaq, which are more weighted to the large tech stocks that have led this year's rally.

"This negative leaning is unlikely to cause any undue concern," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare. "Rather, it is apt to be viewed as a normal course of action for a market that has been on a tear."

Chip designer Nvidia, which has gained 63 percent since the start of the year, opened down more than one percent but had erased nearly all of the loss by the end of the morning.

In Europe, London fell 0.8 percent, while Paris edged higher and Frankfurt added 0.3 percent to set a new closing record.

London was dragged lower by St James' Place, whose stock ended the day down 18.6 percent after the wealth manager slashed its shareholder dividend and set aside £426 million ($538 million) for potential client refunds.

Vodafone's shares initially rose after the British mobile phone giant revealed it was in advanced talks to sell its Italian division to Swisscom for eight billion euros ($8.7 billion), but ended down 0.2 percent in volatile trading.

Paris was held back by a sharp drop by retailer Casino after it reported massive losses from French supermarkets it is in the process of selling.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency bitcoin burst through $60,000 thanks to feverish demand and then continued to rise over $61,000. The all-time high of $68,991 was set in November 2021.

Bitcoin has been buoyed by US moves toward creating exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to track the price of the world's most popular cryptocurrency, which would expand its potential investors pool by allowing the public to invest without directly purchasing the digital unit.

Meanwhile, many traders are on hold awaiting the Thursday release of the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index, the Fed's most watched inflation indicator.

The world's biggest economy will also report consumer and jobless figures.

Expectations for cuts to US interest rates have gradually shifted to later this year, as inflation data has come in hot and Fed policymakers have indicated they need to see more signs that inflation is moving towards their 2.0 percent goal.

Eurozone inflation figures are slated for release on Friday.

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said investors were being cautious ahead of these figures.

"These data points are crucial for gaining insights into the potential monetary policy directions of central banks," he said.

Key figures around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,901.64 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 5,073.88

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 15,988.78

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,624.98 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP less than 0.1 percent at 7,954.39 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 17,601.22 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 4,883.77 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 39,208.03 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 16,536.85 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.9 percent at 2,957.85 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0836 from $1.0853 on Tuesday

Dollar/yen: UP at 150.74 yen from 150.70 yen

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2655 from $1.2684

Euro/pound: UP at 85.61 pence from 85.54 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.5 percent at $83.22 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $78.15 per barrel

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