US markets end in red on Thursday

01 Apr 2022 Evaluate

The US markets settled in red on Thursday as some traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to their best closing levels in well over two months on Tuesday. Selling pressure picked up considerably in the final hour of the last trading day of the quarter, which marked the first negative quarter for the major averages since the first quarter of 2020. For the first three months of 2022, the Nasdaq plummeted by 9.1 percent and the S&P 500 and Dow dove by 4.9 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, although the major averages regained some ground in March. On the sectoral front, Housing stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 3.5 percent to its lowest closing level in over a year.

On the economic data front, a day ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 26th. The report showed initial jobless claims edged up to 202,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level of 188,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 197,000 from the 187,000 originally reported for the previous week. Besides, personal income in the U.S. increased in line with street estimates in the month of February, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The report showed personal income rose by 0.5 percent in February after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in January. Street had expected personal income to climb by 0.5 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 550.46 points or 1.56 percent to 34,678.35, Nasdaq dropped 221.76 points or 1.54 percent to 14,220.52 and S&P 500 was down by 72.04 points or 1.57 percent to 4,530.41.

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