Most stocks gave back some of their strong weekly gains during Thursday's session as investors mulled over more grim unemployment data and U.S.-China tensions left over from Wednesday. The U.S. Labor Department's jobless claims report published on Thursday added another 2.4 million people who filed for unemployment benefits last week. That brings the jobless total since the start of coronavirus related shutdowns to above 38 million. In addition, the number of citizens continuing unemployment claims totaled to 25.07 million, the department's highest record. Many analysts are fearing that May's jobless report will be worse than previously thought despite easing of public restrictions. As of this week, every state in the nation has entered some form of easing on previous coronavirus shutdowns.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.78% or -23.10 points to 2,948.51
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.41% or -101.78 points to 24,474.12
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.97% or -90.90 points to 9,284.88
In Major Stock News, Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) joined the growing list of big tech companies that are allowing employees to work from home indefinitely. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his staff on Thursday that the company will be embracing remote positions and increasing work-from-home status to 50% of employees by 2030. Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE: NCLH) also received a much needed boost as the deeply damaged stocks were upgraded by Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) to outperform. Boeing (NYSE: BA) was also upgraded to the same rating by RBC (NYSE: RY).
In Stock Sector News, every sector expect Industrials, which increased +0.17%, fell during Thursday's session. The performance losses were as follows: Energy -1.48%, Information Technology -1.40%, Consumer Staples -1.04%, Utilities -1.01%, Materials -0.99%, Health Care -0.81%, Real Estate -0.54%, Communication Services -0.45%, Financials -0.35% and Consumer Discretionary -0.16%.
In Commodity and Currency News, West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) increased over +1.4% to settled around $34 per barrel as July futures continue to lift on demand gains. Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) also gained during Thursday trades, settling around $36 per barrel. Gold (NYSE: GLD) futures dropped over -1.5% to around $1,724 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) increased over 0.30%.
As the market moves into Friday, investors will focus on developing U.S.-China tensions as well as state reopening news.