US markets end mostly lower on Thursday

07 Jun 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as traders seemed to take a step back to assess the outlook for the markets following Wednesday's surge, which lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs. Traders also stuck to the sidelines ahead of Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates. The Labor Department report is likely to show employment increased by 185,000 jobs in May after climbing by 175,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.9 percent.

A day ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended June 1st. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 229,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in the month of April, as the value of imports jumped by much more than the value of exports. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit surged to $74.6 billion in April from a downwardly revised $68.6 billion in March. While narrower than expected, the trade deficit in April marked the largest since the gap reached $75.3 billion in October 2022.

On the sectoral front, gold stocks moved sharply higher, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.5 percent.  The rally by gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.  On the other hand, housing stocks came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.2 percent. Airline stocks also showed a notable move to the downside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index falling by 1.2 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.84 points or 0.2 percent to 38,886.17, while Nasdaq fell 14.78 points or 0.1 percent to 17,173.12 and S&P 500 was down by 1.07 points to 5,352.96.

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