U.S. stocks drift lower as investors await July inflation reading

Economists forecast that a dip in energy prices will help headline year-over-year consumer price index for July fall from the multidecade high of 9.1% to 8.7%. A drop Monday in the New York Fed’s measure of consumer inflation expectations was taken as a positive sign, but strong wage growth data in Friday’s July jobs report and a large rise in unit labor costs in data Tuesday were a source of unease, analysts said.