The Bank of Japan left rates unchanged, increasing global market volatility as stocks corrected falling broadly lower in the U.S. and international markets Thursday.
In the U.S. gross domestic product reported by the Bureau of Economics was 0.5% for the first quarter, further dragging on U.S. market valuations as corporate earnings reports remained mixed.
Oil also continued to gain despite primarily unchanged global supply. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,830.76 for a loss of 210.79 points or -1.17%. The Standard & Poor's 500 was also lower at 2,075.81 for a loss of 19.34 points or -0.92%.
In the Dow 30, Apple (AAPL, Financial) continued to drop as investors increasingly expressed their disappointment with the technology stock's second quarter reported earnings. Apple fell 3.06% Thursday for a weekly loss of 10.27%. For the second quarter Apple reported iPhone revenue down 18% from the comparable quarter, iPad revenue fell 19%, and Mac revenue was 9% lower. The large-cap tech company’s lower sales continued to increase tech stock volatility as worries increased over broader potential challenges in the sector, specifically for mobile and personal computers.
Adding to tech sector volatility, Thursday’s International Data Corporation report showed a 14.7% decrease in worldwide tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2016. Driving the sector lower, Apple, Cisco (CSCO, Financial) (-2.37%) and IBM (IBM, Financial) (-2.26%) led the Dow’s losses for the day.
In the broader market Thursday’s stocks fell across the board according to data from CNBC, and globally futures are headed lower.
For Friday, Dow futures were down 11 points, S&P 500 futures were down 1.75 points and the Nasdaq Mini was at 4,379 for a loss of 2.5 points. CNBC reports were also showing global markets in Asia trading much lower.
