The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped around 0.9%, to lead Wednesday’s stock market decline, the S&P 500 dropped 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed nearly 1%
US stocks endured more losses on Thursday as concerns about higher-for-longer interest rates and a Salesforce sell-off dampened investors’ sentiments.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped around 0.9 per cent, or more than 350 points to lead Wednesday’s stock market decline. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed nearly 1 per cent.
Stocks have lost steam amid renewed concerns about the odds for rate cuts, stoked by data showing less cooling in inflation than the Federal Reserve wants. At the same time, hopes that Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings would spur a broader stock rally were dashed.
Leading the way down on the corporate front Thursday was Salesforce, whose results triggered other concerns about likely losers in the artificial intelligence boom. The software maker’s shares dipped around 20 per cent after it said sales growth would stall to the slowest in its history, its most significant drop since 2004.
In the meantime, new government data showed that the US economy grew at a slower pace than initially thought during the first quarter. According to the second estimate of first quarter US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA), the economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.3 per cent during the period, down from a first reading of 1.6 per cent growth in April.
On deck for investors is a crucial inflation figure Friday. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, which includes the Federal Reserve’s closely watched core PCE measure, will offer potential clues on the path of interest rates less than two weeks ahead of the Fed’s next meeting.
