The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 27,901.98 on Thursday with a loss of 130.40 points or -0.47%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,357.01 for a loss of 28.48 points or -0.84%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,910.28 for a loss of 140.19 points or -1.27%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 26.46 for a gain of 0.42 points or 1.61%.
Thursday's market movers
U.S. indexes closed lower Thursday. Selling continued to follow the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting releases, which showed an extended outlook for economic challenges. Technology, which has been the market's sector leader year to date, was a top detractor for the day. The PHLX Semiconductor Index was down 0.05%. The Nasdaq Biotech Index was down 0.35% following a Congressional testimony from the Center for Disease Control chief, who said vaccines would not be ready until 2021.
Across the board, real estate led the day's losses overall with the S&P 500 real estate sector down 2.21%. Real estate losses were spurred by a Residential Construction report that showed both building permits and housing starts down substantially from July.
Stock highlights included:
- Facebook (FB, Financial) was down 3.3% on antitrust concerns and celebrity protests, though the company did announce the launch of a new business product.
- Oracle (ORCL, Financial) ended with a loss of 0.40% on news of a potential Treasury approval for the TikTok buy-in.
- Herman Miller (MLHR, Financial) posted a 33.47% gain on better-than-expected earnings results. The furniture and equipment store beat earnings per share estimates by 95 cents in its release Wednesday evening.
- Illumina (ILMN, Financial) led losses in the S&P 500 with a return of 7.58%. Reports show it is nearing an acquisition deal for a biopsy test developer.
- Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO, Financial) led losses in the Nasdaq Biotech Index with a return of -15.39%.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The Residential Construction report was released. Building permits decreased 0.9% in August following an increase of 17.9%. Housing starts decreased 5.1% in August following an increase of 17.9%.
- Around 860,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, down slightly from the previous week's 893,000. Continuing jobless claims decreased to 12.628 million from 13.544 million.
- The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index decreased to 15.0 in September from 17.2.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.080%, eight-week bills at a rate of 0.095% and 10-year TIPS at a rate of -0.966%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87%, up from 2.86%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.35%, down from 2.37%.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,542.60 for a loss of 9.73 points or -0.63%. The S&P 600 closed at 875.86 for a loss of 6.92 points or -0.78%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 10,759.82 for a loss of 72.10 points or -0.67%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 7,128.18 for a loss of 21.94 points or -0.31%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,888.13 for a loss of 10.42 points or -0.55%; the S&P 100 at 1,548.53 for a loss of 15.35 points or -0.98%; the Nasdaq 100 at 11,080.95 for a loss of 166.65 points or -1.48%; the Russell 3000 at 1,964.60 for a loss of 16.93 points or -0.85%; the Russell 1000 at 1,866.57 for a loss of 16.34 points or -0.87%; the Wilshire 5000 at 34,309.29 for a loss of 303.32 points or -0.88%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 607.21 for a loss of 1.43 points or -0.23%.
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