US Stocks Fall, Dragged Down by Tech, Industrials; Is A Rebound On Horizon?

Summary

• S&P 500 was down 0.44%, Dow Jones shed 0.38%, while NASDAQ ticked down 0.72%.
• Industrials, financials, technology, healthcare, and real estate dragged down the indexes.
• Walmart, Amazon, Target Corp hike minimum hourly wage ahead of Congress proposal.

All major US stock indexes ended lower on Thursday as the latest data showed jobless claims rose again last week and concerns of a broader economic recovery weighed on the investors’ minds.

The S&P 500 plunged 0.44% to 3913.97. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.38% to 31493.34. The NASDAQ Composite Index shed 0.72% to 13865.36 and the small-cap Russell 2000 erode 1.51% to 2222.00.

The government said on Thursday that unemployment benefit claims, which were on the decline, rose yet again to reach 861,000 last week. But the numbers were still lower than 926,000 in January.

US jobless claims had fallen to 773,000 in early February, raising hopes of a rebound.

Still, there was some good news to savor. Retail sales were up by 5.3% in January driven by massive gains in e-commerce, which analysts say had risen by nearly 70% in the past year.

Walmart reported fourth-quarter revenue growth of around 10% to $152 billion. Sales were boosted by a spike in e-commerce transactions. The retailer said it will hike the hourly pay of some 425,000 workers to $15, which came after Amazon and Target Corp. have also hiked their minimum wage.

The pay updates come as Congress considers a proposal to increase the federal hourly wage for workers. The companies, however, said it will be a burden on the budget if Congress proposes more.

Investors remained cautious as markets moved sluggishly amid bleak earnings reports from the hotel industry. The world’s largest hotel operator, Marriott International Inc., reported a Q4 loss of $164 million and an annual loss of $267 million after the occupancy rates were pulled down by the pandemic. Earlier, its competitors Hilton and Hyatt had also reported losses in millions.

On Thursday, major sectors, such as industrials, financials, basic materials, technology, healthcare, energy, and real estate moved at a snail’s pace, while consumer cyclical and non-cyclicals, utilities, and academic and educational services stocks saw some traction.

Image Source: Pixabay

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Top Gainers

Top performers on S&P 500 included FirstEnergy Corp (7.61%), LKQ Corp (5.98%), Kraft Heinz Co (4.92%), and Cboe Global Markets Inc (4.79%). On NASDAQ, top performers were Greenland Technologies Holding Corp (116.03%), HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp (106.07%), Immunome Inc (90.68%), and Motus GI Holdings Inc (41.57%). On Dow Jones, 3M Co (1.35%), Coca-Cola Co (1.34%), Honeywell International Inc (1.10%), and Mcdonald's Corp (1.04%) were among the leaders.

Top Losers

Top laggards on S&P 500 included Albemarle Corp (-9.34%), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (-8.19%), Mosaic Co (-8.08%), Walmart Inc (-6.10%). On NASDAQ, ZW Data Action Technologies Inc (-25.53%), Code Chain New Continent Ltd (-25.05%), NXT-ID Inc (-24.85%), and TDH Holdings Inc (-23.77%) were the bottom movers. On Dow Jones, Walmart Inc (-6.17%), Boeing Co (-2.85%), Walt Disney Co (-1.58%), and Dow Inc (-1.18%) were among the top laggards.

Image Source: Refinitiv, S&P 500 1Y price chart, 18 February 2021

Volume Movers

Top volume movers included Sundial Growers Inc (29.76mn), Ebang International Holdings Inc (20.26mn), Onconova Therapeutics Inc (17.55mn), Riot Blockchain Inc (15.77mn), Avinger Inc (15.39mn), Apple Inc (13.93mn), Wells Fargo & Co (5.76mn), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (5.38mn), Ford Motor Co (5.31mn), Walmart Inc (4.55mn), Intel Corp (3.71mn), and Microsoft Corp (3.37mn).

Futures & Commodities

Gold futures were up 0.06% to $1,773.80 per ounce, silver was down 0.96% to $27.050 per ounce, while copper shed 2.30% to $3.9082.

Brent oil futures for April delivery were down 1.48% to $63.38 and WTI crude futures for March delivery ticked down 1.78% to $60.05.

Bond Market

The yield on the US 30-year Treasury bond was up 0.02% to 2.069. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond was down 1.04% to 1.286.

US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.43% to 90.555.

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin hit a new high of US$52,621.84 on Thursday, as the crypto rally continued in the markets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has yielded more than 75 per cent return year-to-date.

In a first, a Bitcoin ETF was launched on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on Thursday, with the symbol BTCC.B (for Canadian dollar) and BTCC.U (for US dollar). It is the first bitcoin to be granted with the status of exchange-traded fund, the issuer, Purpose Investments Inc. said in a statement.

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In other developments, the House Committee on Financial Services probed the executives of the brokerage firms including Robinhood Inc. against whom a lawsuit was filed by online traders accusing them of obstructing free trade. The Committee, however, wanted to know if they had any role in the stock market volatility witnessed in early February.

Also, analysts believe that an ongoing shortage in shipping containers may have pushed the prices of some raw materials up since it has disrupted the supply chains, especially for durable goods. And consumers, flush with money but few places to spend, have turned their attention on durable products, which led to a manifold increase of some items, they said.