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U.S. stocks struggled on Thursday as a rebound in tech stocks faded.
The Dow Jones Industrials weakened 176.7 points to 36,113.62
The S&P 500 shed 67.32 points, or 1.4%, to 4,659.03
The NASDAQ Composite subtracted 381.58 points, or 2.5%, to 14,806.81.
Weakness in Big Tech stocks, including Amazon and Microsoft, weighed on the NASDAQ. Shares of Snap dropped roughly 8%, while Virgin Galactic slid nearly 18% after the space exploration company announced a debt offering. Electric vehicle stock Tesla shed more than 5%.
The markets were supported by some strong earnings reports. Delta Air Lines posted a beat on profit and revenue and reaffirmed full-year guidance, sending its shares up more than 2%. Shares of homebuilder KB Home rallied more than 16% after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
Elsewhere, Dow component Boeing rose 3.1% following a Bloomberg News report that the company’s 737 Max could resume service in China as soon as this month. Shares of regional and mid-sized banks outperformed, with PNC Financial adding more than 1%.
The slide in tech was poised to end a three-day rally for the NASDAQ. Tech stocks have been volatile to start 2022 as the Federal Reserve has signaled it will fight inflation aggressively this year, including rate hikes and potentially reducing its balance sheet.
Thursday’s market moves came as another inflation report showed a historically high rise in prices but was not as bad as some economists feared. The December producer price index rose 0.2% month over month.
That was below the 0.4% expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. However, the measure was up 9.7% year over year, which is the highest on record going back to 2010.
Elsewhere, initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 8 came in at 230,000, above the 200,000 projected by economists polled by Dow Jones forecast. However, continuing claims declined.
Markets also will be watching action on Capitol Hill, where Fed Governor Lael Brainard will be heading for her confirmation as vice chairman of the central bank’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys raised their game, bringing yields down to 1.70% from Wednesday’s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ditched $1.17 to $81.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $5.80 to $1,821.50 U.S. an ounce.
