Investing.com – Wall Street traded lower on Thursday, despite better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data while shares of Snap soared 50% on its market debut.
Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) Inc. hit the tape in its first day of trading at $24 per share, more than 40% from its $17 per share initial public offering (IPO) price and traded at $25.44 by 13:21 EST, up 49.7%.
Meanwhile, U.S. equities remained under pressure, after upbeat U.S. jobless claims data failed to stem the flow to the downside, as investors seemed to be reluctant to initiate large positions, after all three major indexes posted their best session of the year in the previous session.
Initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 223,000 for the week ended February 25, the Labor department said on Thursday. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 1,000 to 243,000 last week.
Financials, mostly banks, traded in negative territory despite increased expectations of a March rate hike, after several Federal Reserve officials supported the view that the U.S. central bank should raise interest rates sooner rather than later.
Most recently, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said Wednesday evening the Fed could raise rates "soon," while Fed Governor Jerome Powell said Thursday that “the case for a rate increase for March has come together”.
According to investing.com’s Fed rate monitor tool, nearly 80% of traders expect a rate hike in March, compared to just over 60 percent on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained above 21,000 but traded down 60 points at 21,055.04 with Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) the main laggards. The S&P 500 ticked lower to 2384.75, down 0.37% while the Nasdaq 100 edged down 0.33%, or 18 points to 5367.88.