US close: Stocks fall on mountain of jobs data

Wall Street closed in negative territory on Thursday, with major indices registering losses in response to stronger-than-expected economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.07%, closing at 33,922.26 points, and the broader S&P 500 ended the session 0.79% lower at 4,411.59 points.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was not immune to the trend, registering a decline of 0.82% to settle at 13,679.04 points.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar strengthened slightly against the pound and the euro, by 0.08% and 0.03% to last trade at 78.55p and 91.87 euro cents, respectively.

Against the yen, however, the greenback declined 0.05% to change hands at JPY 144.00.

“Equities were already under heavy pressure coming into Thursday’s session following hawkish Fed minutes, but a remarkably robust ADP payroll report has put the boot in," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp earlier.

"The stage seems set for the two additional rate hikes that the Fed alluded to at the June decision, as the US economy continues to show remarkable resilience."

US jobless claims rise as hiring surges, job cuts slow down

On the economic front, US jobless claims experienced an uptick last week, aligning with economists' expectations.

The Department of Labor disclosed that initial unemployment claims, on a seasonally adjusted basis, surged by 12,000, registering at 248,000 for the week ended 1 July.

The increase marginally exceeded the anticipated rise of 245,000.

Nevertheless, the tally from the preceding week was revised downwards by 3,000 to a total of 236,000 claims.

Meanwhile, the less-volatile four-week moving average decreased by 3,500 from the preceding week, standing at 253,250.

Furthermore, secondary unemployment claims, those not being filed for the first time for the week ending on June 24, observed a drop by 13,000, registering at 1.720 million.

Amid that, the labour market also witnessed some dynamic activity.

There was a noticeable decline in job vacancies across US businesses in May, yet it seemed employees were confident enough to consider job changes.

Job openings, in seasonally adjusted terms, plunged by 4.8% month-on-month, hitting 9.824 million.

Conversely, hiring saw an uptick of 1.8% from April, with 6.208 million people securing jobs.

The rate of voluntary job resignations, also referred to as "quits," saw a significant rise of 6.6% to 4.015 million, pushing the quits rate up to 2.6%.

Elsewhere, June witnessed a surge in private sector hiring.

According to consultancy firm ADP, the number of new hires in June swelled by 497,000, more than double the anticipated increase of 220,000.

Moreover, job cuts announced by US companies in June saw a considerable drop, particularly within the automotive, entertainment, and technology sectors.

As per a survey by Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, firms declared 40,709 job cuts last month, marking a substantial 49% decline from the previous month.

The sharp drop led the global outplacement firm to speculate whether the 'Tech Purge' had finally ended.

"It's possible that the deep job losses due to inflation and interest rates might not materialise, especially if the Federal Reserve keeps rates steady,” observed Andrew Challenger, senior vice-president at the staffing firm.

Exxon Mobil, Meta Platforms decline; Spirit Airlines ascends

In equities, oil giant Exxon Mobil tumbled 3.7% as the company warned that its second-quarter earnings could be negatively impacted by lower natural gas prices.

Tech heavyweight Meta Platforms, the firm behind Facebook, also fell out of favour, sliding 0.8% during the session.

The move followed the company's unexpected early launch of Threads, a new platform designed to compete with Twitter.

On the brighter side, Spirit Airlines saw its stock rise by 1.1%.

The increase came in the wake of the announcement by JetBlue Airways that it would be dissolving its joint venture with American Airlines Group in the northeast US, with the intention of prioritising its merger with Spirit.

However, the announcement did not bode well for JetBlue and American Airlines, which both closed lower.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

Dow Jones - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $341.27 0.92%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $191.81 0.25%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $52.77 -0.13%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $151.99 -0.16%
Visa Inc. (V) $238.88 -0.24%
Boeing Co. (BA) $212.54 -0.32%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $469.36 -0.39%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $29.11 -0.51%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $157.11 -0.63%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $302.02 -2.82%
American Express Co. (AXP) $170.94 -2.64%
3M Co. (MMM) $96.31 -2.35%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $313.00 -2.20%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $152.88 -2.19%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $105.10 -1.87%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $240.44 -1.74%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $210.02 -1.72%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $111.75 -1.72%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $31.97 -1.66%

S&P 500 - Risers

Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $44.89 3.96%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $40.28 2.47%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $9.00 2.05%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $108.69 1.30%
Globe Life Inc. (GL) $110.91 1.19%
AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) $192.41 1.19%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $371.77 1.12%
Rollins Inc. (ROL) $43.48 1.07%
Baxter International Inc. (BAX) $45.58 1.04%
Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI) $295.62 0.98%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Fiserv Inc. (FI) $0.00 -100.00%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $2.09 -7.52%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $0.55 -4.40%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $66.14 -3.94%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $102.92 -3.73%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $114.86 -3.71%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $19.32 -3.64%
ConocoPhillips (COP) $100.40 -3.54%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $34.76 -3.31%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $37.91 -3.24%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $17.61 4.32%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $18.47 3.65%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.04 1.96%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $108.69 1.30%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $371.77 1.12%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $341.27 0.92%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $221.65 0.89%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $113.72 0.74%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $6.81 0.74%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $130.70 0.62%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Fiserv Inc. (FI) $0.00 -100.00%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,153.59 -7.52%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $33.72 -3.96%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $66.14 -3.94%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $34.08 -3.18%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $4.44 -2.63%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $138.19 -2.62%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $43.85 -2.62%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $182.48 -2.43%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $17.88 -2.40%