Stocks fell Thursday as December's sell-off resumed after a rally in the previous session failed to gain traction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 300 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% and 2% lower, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -1.45% or -56.05 points to 3,822.39
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -1.05% or -348.99 points to 33,027.49
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -2.18% or -233.25 points to 10,476.12
Thursday's declines follows a more than 500-point rally for the Dow on Wednesday on better-than-expected quarter earnings from Nike (NYSE: NKE) and FedEx (NYSE: FDX), as well as strong consumer sentiment data for December.
However, pessimism returned to Wall Street as market participants remained concerned that further monetary tightening from various central banks around the world may push the global economy into a recession.
Adding to negative sentiment, disappointing earnings results from Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) sent the broader semiconductor sector lower on Thursday after the chip maker forecasted a wider-than-expected second quarter loss. Micron also announced it will cut its headcount by 10% in 2023 and it suspending bonuses for the year.
"On December 21, 2022, we announced a restructure plan in response to challenging industry conditions," the company said in an SEC filing. "Under the restructure plan, we expect to reduce our headcount by approximately 10% over calendar year 2023, through a combination of voluntary attrition and personnel reductions."
The market sell-off was also boosted by comments from Appaloosa Management founder David Tepper said in an interview with CNBC, saying that he is "leaning short on equity markets" over concerns that raising interest rates will further impact stocks.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) also saw more losses on Thursday, with shares falling nearly 8.9% after the electric vehicle maker began offering $7,500 discounts on some vehicles for U.S. consumers -- a move seen as a sign that demand is slowing for the EV giant.
For economic data, initial filings for unemployment insurance rose slightly higher to 216,000 for the week ended December 17, the Labor Department said Thursday, up from the previous week's revised print of 214,000.
Elsewhere, FTX co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty late Wednesday to charges related to their roles in fraud that led to the collapse of the once major cryptocurrency exchange.
So far in December, the Dow is down nearly 5%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have fallen over 6% and 8%, respectively. On Friday, investors will react to new economic reports on inflation, new home sales and consumer sentiment before heading into the last week of the year.