- Shares fell sharply on Thursday, extending losses accumulated earlier this week.
- The personal consumption expenditures price index is released on Friday morning.
- Salesforce shares dragged the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower after the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations for the first time in nearly two decades.
U.S. stocks continued their painful slide on Thursday as traders focused on upcoming inflation data that could shape the market’s direction heading into the summer.
Even a brief interruption in data feeds updating the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average couldn’t halt the decline during trading hours. Both indexes were halted on multiple websites around 10:40 a.m. ET, but individual stock prices continued to update normally.
The Dow ended the day down 330 points, its third consecutive day of declines and its fourth decline in five trading days. Salesforce shares tumbled 20% after the company reported its first earnings miss in nearly two decades, weighing on the Dow. The S&P 500 was down about 0.6%.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is scheduled to release its Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index on Friday, and economists expect the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge to show a 2.7% increase in April from a year earlier.
Bond yields tumbled after first-quarter GDP data was revised down and jobless claims rose slightly, signaling a combination of factors that could give the Fed the fuel it needs to start cutting rates later this year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 7 basis points to 4.554%.
“All these figures point to slowing growth and inflation, providing relief to investors after persistent hopes of a rate cut caused yields to spike earlier this week,” said David Russell, head of global markets strategy at TradeStation.
But Barclays economists said the revision did not take into account more subtle factors that suggest the economy’s strength will continue.
“Consistent with preliminary estimates, we expect first-quarter GDP growth to have been significantly below real growth,” the bank said in a note, adding that the Fed would likely focus on indicators such as private domestic final purchases, which gauge consumer and business demand.
As of the close of trading at 4 p.m. on Thursday, U.S. stock indexes were as follows:
Here’s something else that happened today:
Commodities, Bonds and Cryptocurrencies:
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $77.95 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent crude fell 0.2% to $81.98 a barrel.
- Gold fell to $2,362 an ounce.
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 7 basis points to 4.554%.
- Bitcoin rose 1.9% to $68,712.08.
