US markets end lower as US-China tensions rise

22 May 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday due to profit taking, as some traders cashed in on the strong gains posted on previous session. Weakness also prevailed in the markets as tensions between the US and China appeared to heat up. US senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would sanction Chinese officials and entities who enforce the new national-security laws in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump appeared to attack Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus. On the economic data front, First-time claims for US unemployment benefits pulled back further off the record high set in late March in the week ended May 16th, according to a report released by the Labor Department.

The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 2.438 million, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.687 million. Street had expected jobless claims to tumble to 2.400 million from the 2.981 million originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report showing another steep drop in US existing home sales in the month of April. NAR said existing home sales plunged by 17.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.33 million in April after tumbling by 8.5 percent to 5.27 million in March. Street had expected existing home sales to plummet to a rate of 4.30 million. The continued nosedive pulled existing home sales down to their lowest level since hitting 3.45 million in July of 2010.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 101.78 points or 0.41 percent to 24,474.12, Nasdaq lost 90.89 points or 0.97 percent to 9,284.88 and S&P 500 was down by 23.1 points or 0.78 percent to 2,948.51.

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