The US markets ended lower on Thursday as traders continued to express concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the impact higher rates will have on the economy. A continued rebound by treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note extending the sharp upward move seen on Wednesday. Weakness also prevailed in the markets as the Labor Department released a separate report showing first-time claims for US unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended October 1st. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 219,000, an increase of 29,000 from the previous week's revised level of 190,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 200,000 from the 193,000 originally reported for the previous week.
On the sectoral front, Interest rate-sensitive utilities and commercial real estate stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances, with the Dow Jones Utility Average and the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index plunging by 3.0 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. Substantial weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent slump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. The index tumbled to its lowest closing level in over two years. Banking stocks also showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 1.9 percent.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 346.93 points or 1.15 percent to 29,926.94, Nasdaq dropped 75.33 points or 0.68 percent to 11,073.31 and S&P 500 was down by 38.76 points 1.02 percent to 3,744.52.
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