US shares closed in red territories

U.S. stocks opened and closed with heavy losses as fears over a sooner than expected tapering to the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program and weak Chinese economic data overcame strong data on jobs market.

The S&P 500 index lost 0.29% to 1650.51 points. The NASDAQ composite index lost 0.11% to 3459.42 points. As of 16:15 New York Time

Losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were smaller, as the blue-chip index got a boost from a rally for Hewlett-Packard Co.`s shares after the company’s results beat expectations. HP shares rallied slightly above 11%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.08% or 12.67 points to 15294.50 points.

Benchmark stock indices dropped the most in three weeks on Wednesday, after minutes from the latest U.S. Fed monetary policy meeting showed some members open to an early tapering to the unprecedented bond-buying program.

The minutes came in the wake of comments earlier in the session by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the Fed could scale back the pace of its bond purchases at one of the "next few meetings" if the economic recovery looked set to maintain forward momentum.

Also weighing in, China’s flash HSBC Purchasing Managers’ index for May fell to 39.6, slipping under the 50 mark which indicates a contraction for the first time since October 2012.

Jobless claims decreased by 23,000 to 340,000 in the week ended May 18, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast called for a drop to 345,000. Bernanke said yesterday the job market is still weak, one reason why policy makers will continue buying bonds in a bid to keep interest rates low and spur growth.