Stan Cho, Associated Press
37 minutes ago
FILE – A person looks at an electronic stock board displaying Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Asian stocks rose on Thursday even as Wall Street stocks fell on the S&P 500’s worse losing streak since the start of the year due to a decline in technology stocks. (AP Photo/Hoshiko Eugene, File)
U.S. stock indexes are volatile on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index potentially heading for a fifth consecutive loss.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2% in afternoon trading, after rising and falling slightly during the day. This puts them on pace for their longest losing streak since late October, when their breakthrough to the record began.
As of 3:05 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 18 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.4%.
Equifax fell 9.1% in one of the market’s biggest losses after reporting its latest quarter’s revenue was lower than analysts expected. High interest rates are putting pressure on the company’s mortgage credit research business.
Las Vegas Sands fell 8.7% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings. Analysts said investors may be concerned about the competition the casino and resort company faces in Macau.
Elevance Health offset those losses, rising 4.3% after raising its full-year profit forecast. Genuine parts rose 12.2%, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 index, after the auto and industrial replacement parts retailer reported profits for the latest quarter that beat analysts’ expectations. The company also raised its full-year profit forecast range.
Stock markets have generally struggled recently as bond market yields have risen. The pressure has increased as investors have largely given up hope that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates significantly this year.
Yields rose slightly on Thursday after a flurry of reports suggested the U.S. economy remained stronger than expected.
Fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, a report said. This is the latest sign that the job market remains remarkably strong despite high interest rates.
That resilience “continues to generate robust payroll flows that continue to stimulate consumer demand,” said Carl Riccadonna, chief U.S. economist at BNP Paribas. His team expects the U.S. economy to grow faster than many other economists in the first three months of this year.
A separate report Thursday said manufacturing growth in the mid-Atlantic region accelerated sharply, even though economists had expected a contraction.
A third report said sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. didn’t fall as much as economists had expected last month.
Fed officials recently said they may keep interest rates high for some time after similar data and a series of reports showing that inflation this year remains higher than expected. .
The disappointment comes after the Fed had earlier indicated it could cut interest rates three times this year. But Fed officials insist they want to see inflation falling toward their 2% target before lowering the central bank’s key interest rate from its highest level since 2001.
Lower interest rates would energize the economy and financial markets, but could also lead to a re-acceleration of inflation.
Traders now expect only one or two rate cuts this year, according to CME Group data, down from forecasts of more than six cuts at the start of the year.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose to 4.64% from 4.59% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury note, which is more closely tied to Fed expectations, rose to 4.98% from 4.94%.
The boom expected on Wall Street is expected to help keep interest rates high, which could also fuel strong earnings growth. Companies will need to display such strength to justify the rise in stock prices since the fall and set records in the process.
Alaska Airlines, which suffered a crash in January when a door plug on a Boeing plane exploded mid-flight, rose 4.3% after forecasting better-than-analyst-expected earnings for the current quarter.
Ally Financial rose 7.1% after reporting its latest quarterly profit was better than Wall Street expected.
Ibotta, a Walmart-backed digital company that offers customers cash-back benefits and rebates on grocery brands from Nestlé to Coca-Cola, soared 18% in its first day of trading.
In overseas stock markets, indexes in Europe and most of Asia rose slightly. South Korea’s Cospi stood out. It rose 2%, leading markets around the world.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
