The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that U.S. stocks ended mostly down Wednesday as Wall Street contended with the downside of an economy that keeps powering through its many challenges. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe says the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent to close out its third losing month in the past four. The Dow dropped 443 points and Nasdaq added 0.2 per cent. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 224.40 points at 35,235.87. U.S. stocks turned lower after data reports suggested the U.S. economy was even stronger during the spring than earlier thought. That helped yields remain high in the bond market, which in turn kept up the pressure weighing on stocks. The day began with gains for stocks following an encouraging report on inflation. Shorter-term Treasury yields fell as traders pared bets that the Fed will raise its main interest rate next month to get inflation further under control. They now see just a 37-per-cent chance of that, down from the coin flip's chance seen a day earlier. That helped the yield on the two-year Treasury briefly fall toward 4.83 per cent before it pulled back to 4.89 per cent, where it was late Tuesday. But longer-term yields rose in the bond market.