Major indexes were slightly lower Thursday morning after a couple of lackluster days for the U.S. stock market that followed a big post-election rally, as investors await comments this afternoon from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish after the latest inflation update boosted hopes that more help for the economy will arrive next month from another cut to interest rates

U.S. stocks finished mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 barely eking out a gain, after October's consumer-price index came in cooler than some market participants had expected. The Dow closed up by 47.