Wall Street dipped on Thursday as the Dow fell and the S&P 500 failed to climb over its February all-time high despite stronger-than-expected weekly unemployment data. Investors looking to whether the longer than previously expected economic downturn brought by the coronavirus pandemic instead turned to tech stocks, leading the Nasdaq to outperform the broader market again.

The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims for the week ended Aug 8 totaled 963,000, exceeding consensus expectations of 1.1 million and successfully ending the 20-week streak of over 1 million new claims per week. Continuing claims also fell to a pandemic low of 15.486 million, falling below 16 million for the first time since the financial crisis began. While the improvement in the labor market is a clear sign that the economy is beginning to recover, investors are still waiting on a new stimulus package from the U.S. federal government to alleviate other economic challenges that stand in the way of recovery.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.21% or -6.95 points to 3,373.40

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.29% or -79.98 points to 27,896.86

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.27% or +30.26 points to 11,042.50

For Major Stock News, Tech shares continued their rally as more cyclical stocks fell: Amazon (AMZN  ), Apple (AAPL  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Netflix (NFLX  ). Cisco Systems (CSCO  ) dropped over 11% during intraday trading after reporting lackluster quarterly earnings after market close on Wednesday. Airline shares declined after American (AAL  ) announced that it may discontinue service in smaller cities due to weak demand: Delta (DAL  ), Southwest (LUV  ), United (UAL  ).

For Sector Performance, most industries fell during Thursday's slump, with only Communications Services +0.38% and Information Technology +0.04% advancing against the broader market. The sector performance declines were as follows: Energy -1.99%, Real Estate -1.23%, Industrials -0.65%, Financials -0.61%, Utilities -0.38%, Consumer Staples -0.19%, Health Care -0.17%, Materials -0.07% and Consumer Discretionary -0.06%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) held lower on Thursday against other currencies, keeping at its two-year lows since its 10% drop in March as Congressional stimulus talks extend towards another week. Gold (GLD  ) soared on Thursday, as the dollar weakened and the U.S. economy showed signs of a slow recovery. Spot gold rose 1.9% to $1,954.37 per ounce, while futures gained 1.1% to settle at $1,970.40 per ounce. Crude oil took a dive on Thursday, following the International Energy Agency's lowered demand forecast for 2020 due to unprecedented global travel restrictions. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) slipped 0.95% to $45 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate eased 1.01% to settle at $42.24 per barrel.

For Friday, investors will still be focusing on lawmakers in Washington over extended economic relief, as well as fresh data on retail sales and consumer sentiment slated to release.