US markets end lower on Thursday

20 Jan 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday, magnifying their previous session’s losses. Concerns about the economic outlook continued to weigh on the markets following Wednesday's disappointing retail sales and industrial production data. Traders also remain concerned about the outlook for interest rates amid worries the Federal Reserve will continue aggressively raising rates despite signs of a slowdown in inflation. While the Fed is widely expected to further slow the pace of rate hikes to 25 basis points at its next meeting, traders are expressing some uncertainty about the possibility of further rate hikes. Adding to the concerns about interest rates, a report released by the Labaor Department unexpectedly showed a decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 14th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 190,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 205,000. The dip surprised participants, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 214,000. On the sectoral front, semiconductor stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.8 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Considerable weakness was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Retail stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index down by 2.1 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 252.4 points or 0.76 percent to 33,044.56, Nasdaq declined 104.74 points or 0.96 percent to 10,852.27 and S&P 500 was down by 30.01 points or 0.76 percent to 3,898.85.

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