Wall Street fell during Thursday's session due to more grim economic data. The U.S. Department of Labor's weekly jobless claims report added another 3.84 million Americans to the unemployed list, bringing the six-week total to more then 30 million. In addition, consumer spending for the month of March dropped 7.5% on a year-to-year basis as the coronavirus kept most people indoors. However, all three major benchmarks ended April with monthly gains. The S&P 500 rose +12.68%, Dow Jones up +11% and the Nasdaq soared +15.45%, posting the best market monthly gain in 33 years.
Here's how the market close on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
In Major Stock News, Facebook
In Stock Sector News, sectors reversed course from Wednesday's session and mostly performed lower on Thursday. The two sectors that posted positive performance gains were Consumer Discretionary +0.39% and Communication Services +0.02%. The rest that feel into negative territory include Material -2.96%, Financials -2.68%, Utilities -2.38%, Energy -2.24%, Industrials -2.04%, Consumer Staples -1.13%, Real Estate -0.67%, Information Technology -0.46% and Health Care -0.44%.
In Commodity and Currency News, U.S. crude rallied on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate
As the market moves into Friday, investors are likely to focus on more news surrounding Gilead Sciences's