Thursday’s Stock Market Open: US Equities Fall As Weekly Jobless Claims At 1.5 Million, Covid-19 Fears Linger

Update: 12:05 p.m. EDT:

U.S. stocks remained in the red as of noon Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 135.34 points to 25,984.27, while the S&P 500 slipped 9.41 points to 3,104.08 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.41 of a point to 9,910.12.

In Europe markets finished lower, as Britain’s FTSE-100 dropped 0.47%, while France’s CAC-40 tumbled 0.75% and Germany’s DAX fell 0.81%.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Indicators increased by 2.8% in May to 99.8, following a 6.1% decline in April, and a 7.5% drop in March.

"In May, the US LEI showed a partial recovery from its sharp decline over the previous three months, as economic activity began to pick up again," said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at The Conference Board. "The relative improvement in unemployment insurance claims is responsible for about two-thirds of the gain in the index.”

Original story:

U.S. stocks dropped on Thursday as another 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance, while worries about the covid-19 pandemic deepen.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 211.82 points to 25,907.79, while the S&P 500 slipped 16.19 points to 3,097.30 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 19.25 points to 9,891.28.

Initial jobless claims reached 1.5 million last week, higher than expected, and remained above 1 million for the 13th consecutive week. Continuing claims slipped slightly to 20.5 million.

Lisa Abramowicz of Bloomberg tweeted: “The May jobs optimism is not confirmed in the latest U.S. initial [and] continuing jobless claims data.”

Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, tweeted that “continuing claims still persistently high.”

The Philadelphia Fed index, which measures regional business conditions, climbed to 27.5 in June from minus-43.1 in May.

Chinese health officials claimed the recent outbreak of coronavirus in Beijing has been brought under control.

But several states in the U.S., including Arizona and Texas, recorded a spike in either new covid-19 infections or hospitalizations.

The Bank of England said it will increase its bond buying program by £100 billion ($125 billion).

“We believe the market is pricing in quite a bit of good news and the rally is likely to take a breather in coming months as the recovery evolves,” said Scott Wren, Wells Fargo’s senior global market strategist. “We expect volatility in the coming months as we gauge how the reopenings are going and how consumer spending is progressing.”

Overnight in Asia, markets finished mixed. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.12%; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged down 0.07%; while Japan’s Nikkei-225 slipped 0.45%.

In Europe markets traded lower, as Britain’s FTSE-100 dropped 0.83%, while France’s CAC-40 tumbled 1.36% and Germany’s DAX fell 1.14%.

Crude oil futures fell 0.11% at $37.92 per barrel, Brent crude edge up 0.22% at $40.80. Gold futures edged down 0.37%.

The euro slipped 0.14% at $1.227 while the pound sterling dropped 0.9% at $1.2442.