US stocks fall as environment "looking tougher"

US stocks fell on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 1.0 percent after weak earnings from Macy’s fueled concerns about consumer spending.

“The guidance from companies is that the environment continues to be tough and may be looking tougher,” said Thomas Melcher, chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management.

European stocks also fell. The STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4 percent.

This setback for stocks comes even as an economist from the Federal Reserve points out the stock market may not be a reliable indicator of the economy.

“There’s a definite divide between the state of the economy and any decline you might see in the equity market,” Julieta Yung, an economist in the research department at the Fed Bank of Dallas, told Bloomberg.

Also, oil prices painted a more optimistic picture on Wednesday, with US crude oil jumping 3.5 percent.

And earlier in Asia, stocks rose. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent.