Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Stocks - Wall Street Opens Lower on Jobless Rise; Dow Down 75 Pts

Published 08/20/2020, 09:33 AM
Updated 08/20/2020, 09:40 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened markedly lower on Thursday after the first weekly rise in initial jobless claims in nearly five months sharpened fears that the recovery may be stalling. 

The Labor Department reported that the number of people making initial claims for jobless benefits rose by nearly 200,000 to 1.106 million, suggesting that the rate of layoffs remains high despite a recent improvement in the public health picture across the south and west of the country. Just under half a million more applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program whose benefits have been halved since the start of August. Over 28 million Americans were claiming benefits as of the start of the month, the most recent week for which numbers are available.

There was further evidence of the economy slowing down as the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index fell by more than expected to 17.2, with the employment component suffering most.

The news came a day after the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting minutes showed heightened concern at a loss of momentum in the economy, but still gave no clear hint as to when and under what conditions it may ease monetary policy further.

By 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 75 points, or 0.3%, at 27,618 points, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell a little less than 0.1%. 

Among individual stocks, Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) stock fell 7.3% after the cosmetics group disappointed with its quarterly update, giving a weak outlook and announcing 2,000 job cuts.

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) ADRs fell 1.5% after a strong quarter driven by the group's cloud-hosting operations was overshadowed by an appeal to President Trump that reminded investors of its vulnerability to U.S. trade-related measures.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock continued its parabolic rise, gaining 1.2% to its now-customary all-time high. On Wednesday, the stock had cracked the $2 trillion valuation, only two years after reaching $1 trillion for the first time. In those two years, global growth has slowed sharply, the sustainability of a business model depending on a Chinese supply chain has come into question, and global mobile phone shipments have fallen more than 5% from their peak. The company has responded by aggressively building out music and video streaming services.

In other markets, Crude Oil Futures also fell as the jobless claims numbers intensified fears of a weakening in demand as summer ends, while Gold Futures fell 1.5% on fears that the Fed's attempts to reflate the economy will struggle. 

 

Latest comments

Will close green. JPOW will not let market drop even 1%
Invest in Greece, the upcoming Singapore of Europe is now in a big discount. Not for long.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.