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Stocks dropped on Thursday as Wall Street digested a strong rally this week along with the latest weekly jobless claims data and rising tensions between China and the U.S.
The Dow Jones Industrials toppled 101.78 points to face Thursday’s closing bell at 24,474.12.
The S&P 500 docked 23.1 points to 2,948.51.
The NASDAQ deleted 90.89 points, or 1%, to 9,284.88.
Amazon shares slid 2.1% after hitting a record high earlier in the session. Netflix closed 2.6% lower while Alphabet slipped 0.2%, and Apple dipped 0.8%.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Thursday’s report brings the total number of filings during the pandemic to more than 38 million. The number of continuing claims was at 25.07 million, its highest level on record.
To be sure, the latest figures show the pace of new filings has declined from previous weeks.
Rising tensions between China and the U.S. tempered market sentiment on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that could ban Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu from listing on U.S. exchanges.
That measure was passed after President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the “incompetence of China” caused “this mass Worldwide killing,” referring to the coronavirus.
Shares of Alibaba dropped 2.1% along with JD.com. Baidu’s U.S.-listed shares dipped 3.2%.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gave up their gains, raising yields to Wednesday’s 0.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 49 cents to $33.98 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shed $27.10 to $1,725 U.S. an ounce.
