US markets end lower on Thursday

29 May 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday with gains evaporating within the final hour of trade as markets digested a report that President Donald Trump was set to hold a news conference on China on Friday. Word of an event comes as tensions between China and the US have ratcheted higher, particularly as Beijing was seen threatening the autonomy of Hong Kong. The US on Wednesday said it no longer considered Hong Kong highly autonomous under a 1992 law, a move that could lead to measures to limit Hong Kong's trade privileges and open the door to sanctions against individuals the US sees as suppressing civil liberties in the territory. Also, the governments of the US, Australia, Canada and the UK issued a joint statement reiterating their deep concern regarding Beijing's decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong, after China's parliament, the National People's Congress passed legislation that could greatly curtail democratic freedoms.

On the economic data front, a report released by the Labor Department showed a continued decrease in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended May 23. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 2.123 million, a decrease of 323,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.446 million. Street had expected jobless claims to fall to 2.100 million from the 2.438 million originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, pending home sales in the US plunged by more than expected in the month of April, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed in a report.  NAR said its pending home sales index plummeted by 21.8 percent to 69.0 in April after tumbling by 20.8 percent to 88.2 in March. Street had expected pending home sales to slump by 15.0 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 147.63 points or 0.58 percent to 25,400.64, Nasdaq dropped 43.37 points or 0.46 percent 9,368.99 and S&P 500 was down by 6.4 points or 0.21 percent to 3,029.73.

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