Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed in the red Thursday, but remained just off all-time highs as technology cut some of its losses to help the broader market end well off the lows despite a slump in Walmart and a surprise jump in jobless claims.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38% to 31,493.34 but remained close to its record high of 31,613.02. The S&P 500 was down 0.44%, while the Nasdaq Composite slumped 0.72%.
Major Dow component Walmart (NYSE:WMT) fell 6% after missing fourth-quarter EPS estimates and forecasting soft EPS, income and sales in fiscal 2022, citing the impact of anticipated divestitures.
Stocks were also kept under pressure by an unexpected climb in weekly jobless claims as adverse weather in recent weeks in parts of the U.S. held back hiring activity.
"Major snowstorms have hit various areas across the country over the last few weeks … We often see backups in claims due to extreme weather, so even though claims are starting from a high level, the current situation is otherwise no different from what we have seen in history," Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said.
Technology, which was down about 2% intraday, ended 0.5% lower as major tech stocks cut some their losses.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reamed up with Bosch to co-developed a cloud-backed software platform to allow vehicle computers to receive software updates.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 1.5% as the social media blocked news in Australia after refusing to cave in to the country's demands that tech giants pay for news content on their platforms. Alphabet-parent Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), however, agreed to pay to publish content produced by News Corporation.
Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) proved to be a bright spot in tech, rising nearly 8% after reporting blowout earnings and revenue as the rapid pace of digital transformation continued.
"The company is benefiting from expedited digital transformation activity (re-accelerating messaging growth), robust adoption of new use cases (telehealth) and products (Flex video), rising G2K traction, and a gradual recovery in the worst-impacted pandemic verticals," Oppenheimer said in a note.
Energy stocks fell 2% as the big freeze across Texas halted activity for energy companies. Oil prices, meanwhile, reversed gains to settle 1% lower despite data showing a larger than expected draw in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles.
Crude inventories declined by 7.258 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. That was steeper than the 2.43 million barrels drop analysts had expected.
In other news, Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) fell 14%, cutting its intraday gains as Stifel's negative take on the company as a standalone business offset fourth-quarter results that topped analysts' estimates. Stifel said the combined entity of a Tilray-Aphria (TSX:APHA) merger would likely present a more compelling case for the company.