The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 35,213.12 on Thursday with a loss of 192.38 points or -0.54%. The S&P 500 closed at 4,470.000 for a loss of 26.19 points or -0.58%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 14,945.81 for a loss of 96.05 points or -0.64%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 18.84 for a gain of 2.05 points or 12.21%.
Thursday’s market movers
U.S. stocks traded lower Thursday, and the major indexes all ended with losses. The day’s losses ended a five-day trend higher. Risk appetite was also affected by two bombings outside of Afghanistan’s main airport.
On Thursday, investors received the second estimate for second-quarter 2021 U.S. gross domestic product, which was revised up to 6.6% from 6.5%. Jobless claims were also released, with the first increase in weekly jobless claims in four weeks. Weekly unemployment claims were 353,000. Looking ahead, investors will be watching Jerome Powell’s speech tomorrow at the Jackson Hole Summit, particularly for any insights on tapering plans.
In other news:
- Corporate profits increased 9.7% quarter over quarter for the second quarter of 2021. The 9.7% increase followed a previous quarterly increase of 4.5% and beat the estimate of 2%.
- Freddie Mac (FMCC, Financial) 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 2.17%, up from 2.16%.
- Durable goods orders fell 0.1% in July. Durable goods orders excluding transportation increased 0.70% and durable goods orders excluding defense decreased 1.20%.
- Crude oil inventory was down 3.0 million barrels, according to the EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.035%, eight-week bills at a rate of 0.060% and seven-year notes at a rate of 1.155%.
- Earnings reports were released from: Dollar General (DG, Financial), Dollar Tree (DLTR, Financial), HP Inc. (HPQ), Workday (WDAY), Dell Technologies (DELL), Gap (GPS) and Peloton Interactive (PTON, Financial).
Across the board:
- Support.com Inc. (SPRT) gained 41.12%.
- Ascendis Pharma (ASND) climbed 21.05%.
- NetApp (NTAP) rose 4.72%.
- Coty (COTY) increased 14.63%.
- Salesforce (CRM) inched up 2.5% after it increased its outlook post acquisition of Slack Technologies.
- Dollar General (DG, Financial) shares tumbled 0.8% after reporting lower year-over-year second-quarter income.
- Dollar Tree (DLTR, Financial) shares were down 11% after reporting second-quarter sales below expectations.
- Sector funds leading gains for the day included the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) with a gain of 0.09% and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) with a gain of 0.06%.
- Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX) declined 3.61%.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,213.98 for a loss of 25.29 points or -1.13%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,335.85 for a loss of 16.01 points or -1.18%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 14,963.10 for a loss of 147.33 points or -0.98%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 11,026.72 for a loss of 128.54 points or -1.15%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,716.69 for a loss of 24.70 points or -0.90%; the S&P 100 at 2,051.39 for a loss of 11.29 points or -0.55%; the Nasdaq 100 at 15,278.52 for a loss of 90.40 points or -0.59%; the Russell 3000 at 2,649.79 for a loss of 16.67 points or -0.63%; the Russell 1000 at 2,508.48 for a loss of 14.91 points or -0.59%; the Wilshire 5000 at 46,425.18 for a loss of 299.73 points or -0.64%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 841.21 for a loss of 7.78 points or -0.92%.
