US markets end mostly in red on Thursday

12 Aug 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly in red on Thursday on account of profit booking after gaining in the previous session. Some cautiousness prevailed in the markets amid first-time claims for US unemployment benefits saw another modest increase in the week ended August 6th, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report showed initial jobless claims rose to 262,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level of 248,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 263,000 from the 260,000 originally reported for the previous week. With the increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 265,000 in the week ended November 13, 2021. However, downside remained capped as the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected decrease in producer prices in the month of July.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.5 percent in July after surging by a revised 1.0 percent in June. The decrease marked the first drop in producer prices since April 2020. The pullback came as a surprise to Participants, who had expected producer prices to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 1.1 percent jump originally reported for the previous month. The report also showed the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 9.8 percent in July from 11.3 percent in June. Street had expected the annual rate of growth to slow to 10.4 percent. On the sectoral front, Biotechnology stocks came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 1.5 percent. Considerable weakness also emerged among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the sector came as the price of gold for December delivery fell $6.50 to $1,807.20 an ounce.

Nasdaq fell 74.89 points or 0.58 percent to 12,779.91 and S&P 500 was down by 2.97 points or 0.07 percent to 4,207.27, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.16 points or 0.08 percent to 33,336.67.

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