Wall Street staged its worst decline since mid-March on Thursday following the Federal Reserve's grim outlook for the economy and a rise in coronavirus cases throughout numerous states. Investment sentiment dropped as market participants sold off stocks from all sectors in fear of a coming second wave of the coronavirus and potential shutdown measures that may need to be taken to contain it.
In addition, the Labor Department's unemployment claims report totaled 1.542 million for the week ended June 6, lower than the previous week but still stubbornly high. The report also upwardly revised the prior week's reading to 1.897 million and continuing unemployment for the week ended May 30 was slightly down to 20.929 million from 21.268 million the week before.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -5.89% or -188.04 points to 3,002.10
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -6.90% or -1,861.82 to 25,128.17
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -5.27% or -527.62 points to 9,492.73
In Major Stock News, the "reopening" sector--American (NASDAQ: AAL), Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Norwegian (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), United (NASDAQ: UAL)--tanked with the broader market as investor shook off any previous hopes for travel and leisure stocks. Energy stocks--Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY)--cratered on Thursday as crude futures fell from shaky future demand. Big banks--Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC)--stocks fell alongside major retail--Gap (NYSE: GPS), Macy's (NYSE: M) and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN)--as investors jumped to safe havens. Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares dropped due to the pandemic's long-term impact on travel demand and the company's own hurt outlook.
In Stock Sector News, every sector fell with the broader market during Thursday's slump. The performance losses were as follows: Energy -9.45%, Financials -8.18%, Materials -7.74%, Industrials -7.05%, Real Estate -6.26%, Information Technology -5.81%, Health Care -5.63%, Consumer Discretionary -4.91%, Communication Services -4.64%, Utilities -3.98% and Consumer Staples -3.81%.
In Commodity and Currency News, crude futures plummeted during Thursday's session as investors feared future demand would shrink following a second wave of the coronavirus. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) dropped over 8% to settle around $36 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) slipped over 7% to price at $38.55 per barrel. Gold (NYSE: GLD) futures increased during the market's whirlwind, with the metal's price increasing +0.78% to cost $1,734 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) gained back some strength, with the DXY Index climbing 0.13%.
For Friday, investors will be looking back at coronavirus headlines as well as data on consumer sentiment for May.