Advertisment
U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as weakness among large tech stocks dragged down major market averages.
The Dow Jones Industrials finished in the red, 29.79 points at 35,897.64
The S&P 500 index shed 41.18 points by noon, to 4,668.67.
The NASDAQ jettisoned 385.15 points, or 2.5%, at 15,180.43, and is now down over 3% for the week
Thursday’s trading action was marked by struggles for some large tech names, with Apple falling more than 4% and major semiconductor stocks like AMD, off 5.7%, and Nvidia dropping 7.3%. Shares of Adobe fell after the company’s forward guidance came in lower than analysts expected.
Bank stocks helped the Dow hold up better than its counterparts, with Goldman Sachs rising 1% and JPMorgan adding 1.4%. Shares of Verizon jumped more than 4% to be one of the best performers in the Dow.
Thursday’s moves came a day after stocks rallied in the previous session as the Federal Reserve announced a more aggressive plan to wind down its asset purchases and hike rates in 2022.
The Fed will begin reducing the pace of its asset purchases in January and buy just $60 billion of bonds each month going forward, compared to $90 billion in the month of December. That decision follows recent inflation data showing a 6.8% surge in November, which is higher than expected and the fastest rate since 1982.
On the economic data front, weekly jobless claims came in slightly higher than expected, while housing starts for November were much stronger than economists projected after declining in the prior month.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys advanced, lowering yields to 1.43% from Wednesday’s 1.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked $1.18 to $72.06 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $35.20 to $1,799.70 U.S. an ounce.
