us stocks were lower wednesday to start march after the release of weak economic data rising bond yields and remarks by several federal reserve officials reiterating the need for higher interest rates on tuesday stocks closed lower adding to the dows 42 decline in february and roughly 13 decline for 2023 see why march could make or break stockmarket sentiment with 2023 rally at crossroads the dow was flipping between small gains and losses wednesday afternoon following the release of weak economic data climbing bond yields and tough talk from federal reserve officials on the need for higher interest rates the earnings season is almost over and theres not a whole lot of economic data this week said randy frederick managing director of trading and derivatives at schwab center for financial research with the next fed policy decision not for three weeks he said investors will be left to fixate on every word from us central bankers we know another rate hike isnt for three weeks frederick said the market is in a vacuum until then and going to react to them a lot minneapolis federal reserve president neel kashkari said wednesday that he hasnt decided whether he will advocate for a 25basis point or 50basis point move at the central banks next interestrate committee meeting later this month im open minded at this point about whether its 25 basis points or 50 basis points kashkari told business leaders in sioux falls south dakota atlanta fed president raphael bostic said the central bank needs to keep raising its policy interest rate until the target range is between 5 and 525 the central banks target rate range is now between 45475 economic data showed the institute for supply managements manufacturing survey edged up to 477 from 474 in prior month but numbers below 50 signal the manufacturing sector is contracting the ism report has been negative for the fourth month in a row as manufacturers cut back on production to cope with a slower us economy meanwhile the final number for sp global us manufacturing pmi in february comes in at 473 compared with the preliminary number of 478 the data arrived after a tough february for stock markets when worries that stubborn inflation would encourage central banks to keep raising interest rates pushed the sp 500 down 26 and forced 2year treasury yields to their highest since 2008 i believed since the start of this year that we were likely to see a fair amount of volatility and some retracing of gains because there would be a lot of uncertainty around the fed until it actually hits the pause button for raising interest rates and thats what weve seen said kristina hooper chief global market strategist at invesco certainly january was a relatively good month but at the start of february we began getting data that made markets question the narrative they had bought into hooper said in a call that narrative of course was that the fed would very soon hit the pause button because the economy was slowing and inflation was continuing to moderate the 10year us treasury yield bxtmubmusd10y was pegged at 4 wednesday afternoon readwhy march could make or break stockmarket sentiment with 2023 rally at crossroads movers  shakers reata and sarepta soar while novavax and marqeta sink