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Stocks slumped Thursday, giving back some gains from the prior day’s rally, as a decline in Apple shares weighed on the major averages.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 446.14 points, or 1.5%, to break for lunch at 29,237.60
The S&P 500 parted with 78.33 points, or 2.1%, to 3,640.96.
The NASDAQ Composite flopped 328.86 points, or 3.1%, to 11,687.85.
The selloff was broad-based with just three stocks in the S&P 500 trading higher at one point during the session. There are now six gainers in the broader market index.
Apple shares fell more than 4% after Bank of America downgraded the tech stock to neutral from buy, and slashed its price target, citing weaker consumer demand for the iPhone maker.
Wednesday’s rally put the major averages on pace for a losing week and their worst month since June. The NASDAQ is leading the monthly losses, down about 9%, while the Dow looks to lose 7% and S&P is on pace to close 7.7% lower.
A stronger-than-expected jobless claims report didn’t help sentiment, building on the notion that the Federal Reserve will keep doing aggressive rate hikes to fight inflation without concern it’s going to hurt the labour market.
Treasury prices regained lost ground, lowering yields back to Wednesday’s 3.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices gained 50 cents to $81.63 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices inched forward $1.90 to $1,671.90 U.S. an ounce.
