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Stocks closed lower on Thursday, erasing solid gains from earlier in the day, after President Donald Trump said he would be giving a news conference Friday regarding China.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 96.43 points to 25,451.84, for its first losing day in the last three sessions. At its session high, the 30-stock index had gained more than 200 points.
The S&P 500 subtracted 6.4 points to 3,029.73, giving back a jump of 1.1%.
The NASDAQ Composite moved into the minus category 43.37 points to 9,368.99. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 both snapped three-day winning streaks.
Facebook and Netflix fell more than 1% each while Amazon and Alphabet posted small losses. Bank stocks gave back some of their strong gains for the week. Citigroup dropped 5.9% while Bank of America declined by 4.3%. Wells Fargo dipped 2.6% and JPMorgan Chase slipped 1.5%.
Gains were kept in check after China’s National People’s Congress approved a national security bill for Hong Kong. The bill will bypass Hong Kong’s legislature, raising concerns over the longevity of Hong Kong’s "one party, two systems" principle, which allows additional freedoms mainland China does not have.
The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday another 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. That’s more than a Dow Jones estimate of 2.05 million.
To be sure, the pace of new filings has dropped from previous weeks. Continuing claims, which represent a better unemployment picture, plunged by nearly four million in their first decline since the coronavirus outbreak.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained back lost ground, lowering yields to Thursday’s 0.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 72 cents to $33.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $4.70 to $1,731.50 U.S. an ounce.
