The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,991.52 on Thursday with a loss of 68.95 points or -0.22%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,795.54 for a loss of 14.30 points or -0.38%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,112.64 for a loss of 16.31 points or -0.12%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 23.28 for a gain of 1.07 points or 4.82%.
Thursday's market movers
The major U.S. indexes ended with losses on Thursday. Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss his detailed plans for more Covid-19 stimulus on Thursday evening. Reports suggest that the plan will include $1,400 more in direct payments as well as some substantial vaccine funding. Biden's deal is valued at around $2 trillion.
Investors were also looking ahead to several big bank earnings reports tomorrow. JPMorgan (JPM, Financial), Citigroup (C, Financial) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Financial) will release their earnings before the long weekend. Stock markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In other news:
- Export and import price data was released. Export prices increased 1.1% in December and 0.2% year over year. Import prices increased 0.9% in December and decreased 0.3% year over year.
- 965,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, up from the previous week's 784,000. Continuing jobless claims were 5.271 million, up from the previous week's 5.072 million.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.075% and eight-week bills at a rate of 0.080%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.79%, up from 2.65%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.23%, up from 2.16 %.
- Comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested asset purchases would continue to be important and inflation rates were not likely to spike.
Across the board:
- PayPal (PYPL, Financial) took over full ownership of Chinese online payments platform GoPay. PayPal's stock was down 1.16%.
- Google (GOOG, Financial)(GOOGL, Financial) was down around 1% with an announcement of its acquisition of Fitbit.
- GameStop (GME, Financial) +27.10%
- Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (LXRX, Financial) +105.36%
- Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX, Financial) +10.80%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,155.35 for a gain of 43.38 points or 2.05%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,232.70 for a gain of 27.54 points or 2.29%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 14,990.30 for a gain of 288.10 points or 1.96%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,781.70 for a gain of 153.88 points or 1.60%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,448.38 for a gain of 22.30 points or 0.92%; the S&P 100 at 1,729.74 for a loss of 9.93 points or -0.57%; the Nasdaq 100 at 12,898.69 for a loss of 74.94 points or -0.58%; the Russell 3000 at 2,292.02 for a loss of 3.13 points or -0.14%; the Russell 1000 at 2,151.42 for a loss of 6.38 points or -0.30%; the Wilshire 5000 at 39,955.08 for a loss of 66.43 points or -0.17%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 728.85 for a gain of 7.94 points or 1.10%.
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