Stocks traded flat on Thursday as the market's strong momentum throughout February started to slow on weak economic recovery signals and continued delays for additional fiscal stimulus as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the global economy.
Another 793,000 American filed for first time unemployment claims for the week ended Feb. 6, according to the Labor Department on Thursday. While new jobless claims fell from last week's upwardly revised 812,000, they still came in above expectations and demonstrated weakness in the labor market.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated in prepared remarks at the Economic Club in New York that the U.S. economy still faces challenges in the labor market which monetary policy will need to continue to accommodate.
"Despite the surprising speed of recovery early on, we are still very far from a strong labor market whose benefits are broadly shared," Powell stated.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (SPY ): +0.17% or +6.51 points to 3,916.39
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA ): -0.02% or -7.50 points to 31,430.30
Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ ): +0.38% or +53.24 points to 14,025.77
For Stocks, the cannabis stock rally reversed gains and fell sharply lowers on Thursday, with Aphria (APHA ), Aurora Cannabis (ACB ), Canopy Growth (CGC ), and Tilay (TLRY ) falling from their Reddit retail investor momentum from earlier this week. Kraft Heinz (KHC ) announced on Thursday that it will sell its nut business, which includes Planters and Corn Nut brands, to Hormel Food (HRL ) for over $3 billion in cash.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended the session mostly lower, with Energy (XLE ) leading losses by declining over 1.5%. The only sectors that settled in positive territory were Information Technology (XLK ), Health Care (XLV ), Materials (XLB ) and Communication Services (XLC ).
For Commodities and Currencies, the U.S. Dollar (UUP ) dipped lower on Thursday, with the greenback pressured by a weaker-than-expected U.S. unemployment data after a dovish stance from Fed Chair Powell on the state of the job market on Wednesday. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, slipped 0.1% at 90.354. Bitcoin reached another record high of $48,481.45 on Thursday following increased corporate interest in the digital currency. However, the cryptocurrency gave back some gains later in the session, last trading around $47,700. Gold (GLD ) prices declined on Thursday, with spot gold falling 0.9% to $1,826.00 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.9% lower at $1,826.80 per ounce. Crude oil futures also fell on Thursday, breaking strong multi-session gains, but losses were curbed by ongoing positive outlooks towards the rollout of coronavirus vaccines. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO ) slipped 0.42% to $61.21 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO ) settled 0.75% lower at $58.24 each.
For Friday, market participants will turn their attention to preliminary consumer sentiment index readings for February.