Stocks closed lower Thursday, giving up early advances as concerns over the Federal Reserve’s future moves on monetary policy offset excitement around the latest batch of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials thundered lower 249.13 points at 33,699.88.
The S&P 500 lost 36.36 points to 4,081.50.
The NASDAQ Composite dumped 120.94 point, or 1%, to 11,789.58.
Google-parent Alphabet slid more than 4% as investors grew concerned around rising competition in the artificial intelligence space. A 3% decline in Meta also dragged on the technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite.
At the same time, Wall Street is in the middle of earnings season. Investors seek insight on how companies have fared amid high inflation and how they expect to perform going forward. Traders initially began the day bidding prices higher after positive earnings from consumer bellwethers Walt Disney and PepsiCo.
Disney shares closed more than 1% lower. Earlier, the stock popped after the entertainment giant posted smaller-than-expected subscriber losses at its streaming service along with earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates. CEO Bob Iger said Thursday he was only expecting to stay in the role for two years. Meanwhile, activist investor Nelson Peltz said he was ending a proxy battle after the company unveiled a restructuring plan that included 7,000 layoffs and a reorganization of its divisions.
PepsiCo advanced nearly 1% on the back of fourth-quarter earnings that came in above Wall Street expectations.
But despite the latest beats, Wall Street has considered this earnings season lackluster. Nearly 70% of the approximately two-thirds of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten analysts’ expectations, FactSet data shows. That beat rate is below a three-year average of 79%
PayPal, Lyft and Expedia will report after the market closes.
The number of weekly jobless claims reported Thursday jumped by 13,000 to 196,000, which is more than expected and ran contrary to a recent string of job data indicating the labour market remained stubbornly hot. Treasury yields fell after the data as investors bet that maybe the job market would cool enough for the Fed to slow its hiking campaign further.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury withered, raising yields back to Wednesday’s 3.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 83 cents to $77.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dulled in price $17.80 to $1,872.90 U.S. an ounce.
