耶伦言论和疲软数据打压股市

Bottom lines directly impact stock prices in the earnings season. But there is a little more market jinx.

The US Fed's chair Janet Yellen said equity valuations are quite high, pressuring major indices down.

Tesla reported a wider first quarter net loss after Wednesday's closing bell, and warned strong dollar would hurt gross margins in the coming quarter.

The electric car maker also said it will start delivering the Model X sport utility vehicle late in the third quarter.

Whole Foods same store sales growth cooled in the latest quarter, even though the company has continued to cut prices, and that weighed on its stock.

Also getting slammed in after hours, Keurig Green Mountain. Profits fell, and the company lowered its guidance for the year.

And Met Life results topped expectations, though revenue fell short.

Fed chair Janet Yellen's remarks killed an early rally on Wednesday, sending stocks down for the second straight session. Stocks sold off after she characterized equity valuations as "generally quite high."

Some investors were already in a cautious mood. ADP earlier reported that private employers added a lot fewer jobs than expected last month. That report is often seen as a proxy for the government's monthly employment report due out Friday.

Rutgers' Heldrich Center Chief economist, Bill Rodgers:

"The productivity numbers and the GDP number for the first quarter real, sort of, got people shocked, and that it looks like, you know, that now you are going to see employers, they overshot, they hired a lot of people, and now they are going to sort of wait until that demand catches up before they really begin to have those other surges of hiring in excess of 200,000," said William Rodgers, Chief Economist of Rutgers University.

Drug maker Alexion Pharmaceuticals is buying Synageva BioPharma for $8.4 billion. Alexion shares were the biggest loser among the largest Nasdaq stocks.

MoneyGram International's shares were the top performer on the S&P 500. Bloomberg reported that the money transfer company is in early talks about being bought by Western Union.

Herbalife shares gaining heft one day after the nutritional products maker upped its full-year profit outlook.

About a dozen analysts raised their price target on Electronic Arts after the video game publisher's earnings and revenue crushed estimates.

In Europe, a euro rally robbed stocks of much of their early gains, but the major indices managed to eke out slim gains for the day.