Stocks fell on Thursday as market optimism towards a speedy economic recovery was soured by a worse-than-expected weekly jobless claims report amid prolonged Congressional talks over additional fiscal stimulus.
Initial unemployment claims for the week ended Feb. 13 totaled 861,000, according to the Labor Department. The week's total jumped to a one-month high from the previous week's upwardly revised reading of 848,000 and the 773,000 expected. Moveover, continuing jobless claims fell slightly but still remained higher than expected at 4.494 million for the week ended Feb. 6. The prior week's continuing claims was revised upward to 4.558 million.
Meanwhile, the House Financial Services Committee began a hearing on Thursday over recent market volatility surrounding GameStop (NYSE: GME) and other heavily shorted stocks. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, the leaders of Melvin Capital, Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, and Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman were among those testifying before lawmakers. During the hearing, GameStop shares jumped more than 5% after Keith Gill, also known as "Roaring Kitty" on YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL), stated that he was optimistic towards the stock's future during his congressional testimony. However, GameStop shares ended the day over 11% lower.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.44% or -17.44 points to 3,914.00
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.38% or -118.83 to 31,484.19
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.72% or -100.14 points to 13,865.36
For Stocks, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) shares fell lower following a disappointing quarterly earnings. The big box retailer also warned that it expects its sales to moderate this year on poorer economic outlooks.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 were mostly lower on Thursday, with only Utilities (NYSE: XLU) and Consumer Discretionary (NYSE: XLC) climbing into positive territory. Energy (NYSE: XLE) was the lead decliner, falling over 2% lower.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) slipped lower on Thursday, falling from two straight sessions of gains as a disappointing jobs report harmed risk sentiment. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, was 0.33% lower at 90.601. Gold (NYSE: GLD) edged lower as rising U.S. Treasury yields main the yellow metal less attractive. Spot gold slipped 0.1% lower to $1,774.21 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.1% higher at $1,775.00 per ounce. Crude oil futures declined on Thursday despite a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) fell 0.64% to $63.93 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) decreased 1.01% to settle at $60.52 each.
For Friday, market participants will turn their attention to fresh economic data for flash manufacturing and services PMIs for February.