Most of the stocks on our Birmingham and Alabama Stock Report took losses Thursday ahead of Friday’s speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Boeing took the biggest hit, dropping nearly 5%. U.S. Steel fell nearly 3%.

Local notables in the losing column included Encompass Health (1.8%), Nucor (1.2%) and Vulcan Materials (1%).

Among the gainers were Medical Properties Trust (.7%) and ProAssurance (.1%).

Overall, Wall Street slumped Thursday, despite a blowout profit report from Nvidia, following some mixed reports on the U.S. economy.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.3% for its worst loss in three weeks. It nearly wiped out its gain for the week, which had been a bright spot in what’s been a rough August.