US close: Stocks lower following retail sales, jobless claims

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the red at the end of trading on Thursday after market participants digested a number of key data points.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.56% at 30,961.82, while the S&P 500 was 1.13% weaker at 3,901.35 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.43% softer at 11,552.36.

The Dow closed 173.27 points lower on Thursday after registering just modest gains in the previous session.

August retail sales data was in focus throughout the session, with the Commerce Department revealing that retail sales had risen 0.3% last month, with much of the increase stemming from higher spending on vehicles, with purchases at motor vehicle and parts dealers up 2.8% on the month.

Elsewhere, first-time unemployment claims fell to 213,000 in the week ended 10 September, according to the Labor Department, down from the previous week's revised print of 218,000 and well below market expectations for a reading of 226,000. The drop brought about the lowest amount of weekly jobless claims since the last week of May, pointing to a tight labor market and giving the Fed the green light to make further aggressive interest rate hikes.

On another note, US industrial production decreased 0.2% month-on-month in August, according to the Federal Reserve, missing market expectations for a 0.1% increase. Manufacturing output ticked up 0.1%, down from a 0.6% rise in July, with the index for durable manufacturing unchanged, the index for non-durable manufacturing up 0.2%, and the index for other manufacturing dipping 0.1%.

Still on data, manufacturers' and trade inventories in the US increased 0.6% month-on-month in July, according to the Census Bureau, the smallest increase since May 2021 but in line with market expectations.

Finally, the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index fell to -9.9 in September, down from 6.2 in August and falling short of expectations of 2.8, and the New York Fed's Empire State manufacturing index increased from -31.3 in August to -1.50 in August.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention was news that President Joe Biden had struck a tentative agreement that will see rail workers receive better pay, improved working conditions, and "peace of mind" around health care costs.

"I thank the unions and rail companies for negotiating in good faith and reaching a tentative agreement that will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy," said Biden.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was roughly three basis points higher at 3.449%, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury bond was up roughly six basis points at 3.876%.

In the corporate space, Adobe shares tumbled after the software giant Adobe topped expectations with its third-quarter earnings, despite sales coming in slightly lower than expected, and announced a deal to acquire web-first collaborative design platform Sigma for approximately $20.0bn.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $522.91 2.58%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $117.87 1.51%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $331.62 1.33%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $164.17 0.56%
Boeing Co. (BA) $149.78 0.35%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $165.08 0.26%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $0.00 0.00%
American Express Co. (AXP) $156.13 -0.11%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $227.66 -0.20%