After moving modestly lower early in the session, stocks have seen some further downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. With the drop on the day, the major averages are extending the pullback seen in the previous session.
In recent trading, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 200.63 points or 0.6 percent at 35,028.18, the Nasdaq is down 90.09 points or 0.6 percent at 14,352.18 and the S&P 500 is down 21.90 points or 0.5 percent at 4,580.55.
The weakness on Wall Street comes as some traders continue to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to their best closing levels in well over two months on Tuesday.
At the same time, traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday.
Economists currently expect the report to show employment jumped by 490,000 jobs in March after surging by 678,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent.
The jobs data could impact expectations regarding how quickly the Federal Reserve plans to raise interest rates in the month ahead.
A day ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 26th.
The report showed initial jobless claims edged up to 202,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 188,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 197,000 from the 187,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The figure originally reported for the previous week reflected the lowest number of jobless claims since September of 1969.
The Commerce Department also released a report showing personal income in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of February.
The report showed personal income rose by 0.5 percent in February after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in January.
Economists had expected personal income to climb by 0.5 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said personal spending edged up by 0.2 percent in February after surging by an upwardly revised 2.7 percent in January.
Personal spending was expected to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 2.1 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
A reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve showed the annual rate of core consumer price growth accelerated to 5.4 percent in February from 5.2 percent in January.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks continue to see considerable weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 2 percent.
Dell (DELL) and HP Inc. (HPQ) are posting notable losses after Morgan Stanley downgraded both computer equipment makers.
Significant weakness has also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
Financial and semiconductor stocks have also shown notable moves to the day, while gold, tobacco and airline stocks are bucking the downtrend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.7 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index declined by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the rebound seen over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.6 basis points at 2.322 percent.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Remain Mostly Lower After Early Move To The Downside
2022-03-31 17:35:20
