US markets end lower on Thursday

10 Feb 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday on ongoing interest rate concerns following hawkish comments by some Federal Reserve officials.  Private report stated that some traders were placing bets the Fed will have to do a lot more tightening than what Wall Street is pricing in. Some cautiousness prevailed in the markets as a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by slightly more than expected in the week ended February 4th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 196,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 183,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 190,000. The uptick came after jobless claims decreased in four out of the five previous weeks, falling to their lowest level since hitting 181,000 in the week ended April 23, 2022.

On the sectoral front, Airline stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, resulting in a 3.6 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline. With the steep drop on the day, the index hit its lowest closing level in almost a month. Substantial weakness also emerged among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The sell-off by oil service stocks came amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, with crude for March delivery falling $0.41 to $78.06 a barrel. Steel, banking and chemical stocks also showed significant moves to the downside, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 249.13 points or 0.73 percent to 33,699.88, Nasdaq dropped 120.94 points or 1.02 percent to 11,789.58 and S&P 500 was down by 36.36 points or 0.88 percent to 4,081.5.

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