Lucas Jackson/Reuters
US stocks fell on Thursday after early gains of nearly 2% for the Nasdaq evaporated.The Dow notched its fifth straight loss as investors continue to worry about rising rates.Jobless claims jumped to 286,000 last week, hitting its highest level since October.Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.US stocks fell on Thursday, evaporating earlier gains of nearly 2% for the Nasdaq as investors continue to worry about a hawkish Federal Reserve, interest rate hikes, and rising inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 150 points after being up more than 400 points earlier in the day, cementing a five-day losing streak for the index.
The yield on the 10-Year US Treasury fell from Wednesday’s multi-month high of 1.90% to about 1.825%. The slight decline comes ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference.
Jobless claims jumped to 286,000 last week, representing the highest level since October. The weekly claims badly missed economist estimates of 225,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims rose to 1.64 million.
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Thursday:
S&P 500: 4,482.67, down 1.11% Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,715.39, down 0.89% (313.26 points)Nasdaq Composite: 14,154.02, down 1.3%Peloton crashed as much as 25%, falling below its $29 IPO price after a report from CNBC revealed that the company is temporarily halting production of its fitness equipment due to declining consumer demand.
Bitcoin continued to hover around $42,000 on Thursday, but that’s not fazing bulls like MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, who told Bloomberg that his firm will never sell its $5 billion bitcoin holdings, even if prices crash.
Russia’s central bank isn’t on board with the crypto train, with a report from the bank arguing that cryptocurrencies have characteristics of pyramid schemes that rely on new money coming in to stimulate demand and boost prices higher. The country could be gearing up for a ban of cryptocurrencies.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also sees risks associated with cryptocurrencies, and is hoping to boost regulatory scrutiny of the sector this year. Gensler said crypto exchanges are one area of the market that deserve more attention from regulators.
Potential risks to crypto aren’t stopping NFL star Tom Brady’s NFT platform from raising $170 million from Andreessen Horowitz and other Silicon Valley investors.
Secretive hedge fund Renaissance Technologies has reportedly experienced $15 billion in outflows over the past 14 months amid lagging performance for its three public funds.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell as much as 1.17% to $84.80 per barrel. Brent crude, oil’s international benchmark, dropped as much as 0.98% to $87.57 per barrel.
Gold fell as much as 0.21% to $1,839.20 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was mostly flat at 1.83%.