US markets end in red on Thursday

14 Jan 2022 Evaluate

The US markets settled in red on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop, ending the day at its lowest closing level in three months. Software stocks turned in some of the worst performances on the day, dragging the Dow Jones US Software Index down by 4.3 percent. The index tumbled to its lowest closing level in almost six months. Substantial weakness also emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Outside of the tech sector, healthcare, brokerage and retail stocks also came under pressure, while significant strength remained visible among airline stocks.

Further, weakness also prevailed in the markets as first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended January 8th, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims rose to 230,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 207,000. Street had expected jobless claims to edge down to 200,000. With the unexpected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 270,000 in the week ended November 13th. Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report showing only a slight uptick in US producer prices in the month of December. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand edged up by 0.2 percent in December after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.0 percent in November. Street had expected producer prices to rise by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 176.7 points or 0.49 percent to 36,113.62, Nasdaq dropped 381.58 points or 2.51 percent to 14,806.81 and S&P 500 was down by 67.32 points or 1.42 percent to 4,659.03.

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