04:27 PM EDT, 03/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes fell Thursday after official data showed producer prices rose more than expected in February.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.4% to 38,905.7. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% each to 5,150.5 and 16,128.5, respectively. Real estate saw the steepest decline among sectors. Only energy and communication services closed higher.

In economic news, the US producer price index increased 0.6% last month on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.3% in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Bloomberg-polled consensus estimate called for a 0.3% increase. Annually, unadjusted PPI rose 1.6%, accelerating from the month prior's 1% gain and coming in ahead of the 1.2% pace of growth analysts were projecting.

On Tuesday, government data showed US consumer inflation accelerated last month. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, came in hotter than expected.

"Following the (consumer price index) print earlier this week, this (PPI report) likely continues to provide support for the (Federal Reserve) remaining on pause for the next few meetings," Commonwealth Financial Network said Thursday.

The US 10-year yield jumped 10 basis points to 4.29%, while the two-year rate advanced 7.2 basis points to 4.69%.

US retail sales rose less than expected on a sequential basis last month as spending at gas stations rebounded, according to Census Bureau data. Sales increased 0.6% in February following January's downwardly revised 1.1% decline. Analysts expected a 0.8% increase, according to a consensus survey compiled by Bloomberg.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil advanced 1.8% to $81.13 per barrel Thursday.

In company news, Lennar ( LEN ) late Wednesday reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $7.31 billion, missing Wall Street's expectations of $7.41 billion. The homebuilder's shares slumped 7.6% Thursday, the steepest decline on the S&P 500.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Oracle (ORCL) said they are adding five more regions to their Oracle Database@Azure collaboration, bringing the total planned multi-cloud availability footprint to 15 globally. Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares rose 2.4%, the best performer on the Dow and among the top gainers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Oracle closed little changed.

Gold fell 0.6% to $2,167.70 per troy ounce, while silver eased 0.4% to $25.06 per ounce.