The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 400 points Thursday, undoing Wednesday's bullish action. The major indexes erased all gains from yesterday's move and closed sharply lower, with the Nasdaq composite leading the downside.
Dow Jones, Nasdaq Sink Lower
The Dow was down 1.5% while the S&P 500 shed 2.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.8% as the Russell 2000 also showed losses of 2.6%.
Volume was slightly lower on the NYSE and on the Nasdaq, compared to the close on Wednesday, according to early data.
Crude oil traded at $82.83 a barrel, up 0.8%. While all 11 S&P 500 sectors traded lower, energy was the least hindered on Thursday. The Energy Select Sector SPDR fell only 0.7%. Meanwhile, the SPDR Consumer Discretionary ETF led the downside with losses of over 4%.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury is off Wednesday's high of 3.97% but up 6 basis points today to 3.76%.
Initial jobless claims were 193,000 and lower than the 232,000 the previous week. This was also below expectations for claims of 215,000, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Continued strength in the labor market presses further the chance of higher interest rates going into 2023.
Dow Jones Stocks To Watch
On Thursday, Dow Jones leader Apple was among stocks lagging in the index. Shares dropped nearly 5%, its worst decline in roughly two years, after an analyst downgrade from Bank of America on weaker consumer demand for its devices. BofA analysts led by Wamsi Mohan downgraded the recommendation to neutral from buy.
Shares of Apple sold off in heavy volume but pared earlier losses of over 6%. The stock remains in a downtrend after breaking below their 50-day moving average in early September.
Elsewhere, Dow Jones tech giant Microsoft lost 1.5% and remains in a downtrend as well. Among other downside stocks, shares of Boeing led the Dow with losses of about 6%.
The only two Dow stocks trading higher were Travelers and Visa.
Meta Platforms Announces Hiring Freeze
Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced a hiring freeze and warned of a restructuring for the Facebook parent on Thursday.
Shares of Meta fell 3.7%. The Instagram parent company is downsizing in effort to cut costs and shift priorities. During a weekly Q&A session with employees, he said that the company would cut budgets across most teams, even those that are growing.
"I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we're seeing it doesn't yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively," Zuckerberg said.
Shares of Meta declined in above-average volume on Thursday and remain below their 50-day and 200-day lines, a bearish signal as the stock extends a downtrend.
