US open: Stocks flat despite poor claims numbers, analysts also eyeing elections
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Thursday 24 Sep 2020
(Sharecast News) - Stocks on Wall Street were little changed on Thursday despite weekly jobless claims figures that some economists said showed that the jobs market was set to stall in October.
Furthermore, some analysts believed that further income support for the unemployed from Capitol Hill was unlikely until February, after the next elections.
"Investors are growing increasingly unimpressed with the near-term prospects for the global economy and the markets are suffering the consequences," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
"Rising Covid cases, a fiscal void in Washington and monetary policy caution is taking its toll on investor sentiment as we head into a challenging winter period, fraught with uncertainty."
Indeed, just the day before top Federal Reserve officials warned that more fiscal stimulus was needed.
At 1559 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was off 0.02% at 26,758.57 and the S&P 500 up by 0.14% to 32,40.95, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.35% to 10,671.55.
Initial unemployment claims for the week ending on 19 September were little changed at 870,000 while continuing claims, which reference the week before last, fell by 167,000 to 12.58m.
Continuing claims are closely linked to trends in hiring and had been expected to retreat to 12.58m.
Commenting on the jobless data, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics echoed Erlam, telling clients that private non-farm payrolls were likely to rise by 500,000 in September, which would be roughly half the prior month's gain, but would stage an outright fall in October.
New home sales on the other had soared in August, by 4.8% month-on-month to reach an annualised pace of 1.01m (consensus: 880,000), as new home sales apparently managed to dodge Hurricane Laura and Tropical Storm Marco.
Dow Jones - Risers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $190.49 2.35%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $108.70 1.47%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $202.49 0.95%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $136.51 0.38%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $136.81 0.37%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $215.35 0.18%
3M Co. (MMM) $159.77 0.16%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $292.50 0.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $48.82 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $147.43 -2.48%
Raytheon Technologies Corporation (RTX) $57.26 -1.83%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $106.05 -1.34%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $117.29 -1.30%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $91.62 -1.21%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $33.99 -1.16%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $34.67 -1.11%
American Express Co. (AXP) $94.53 -1.08%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $71.23 -1.00%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $37.94 -0.88%
S&P 500 - Risers
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) $18.64 9.20%
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $95.86 6.51%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $190.49 2.35%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $324.15 2.25%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $76.30 2.10%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $494.40 1.95%
General Mills Inc. (GIS) $58.83 1.92%
McCormick & Co. (MKC) $188.99 1.88%
Digital Realty Trust (DLR) $141.59 1.72%
Smith A O Corp. (AOS) $52.66 1.66%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $96.88 -8.54%
Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $2.75 -5.88%
Accenture Plc (ACN) $217.47 -5.71%
Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $10.80 -5.51%
Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $9.45 -5.50%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $14.45 -4.75%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $13.52 -4.32%
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $35.33 -4.15%
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $28.43 -3.81%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $6.13 -3.77%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $324.15 2.25%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $494.40 1.95%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $108.70 1.47%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $1,430.91 1.11%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $1,423.62 1.01%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $182.60 1.00%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $100.70 0.98%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $202.49 0.95%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $136.39 0.91%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $111.52 0.86%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
American Airlines Group (AAL) $11.48 -3.73%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $7.06 -2.89%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $300.33 -2.59%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $83.81 -2.51%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $96.99 -2.38%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $996.84 -2.36%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $85.80 -2.21%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $38.10 -2.12%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $372.72 -2.01%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $41.90 -1.94%
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