Chibuike Ogu
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The index closed slightly lower on Thursday ahead of a key labor market report, retreating from record highs reached in the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly higher.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose early to new intraday record highs but then retreated as technology stocks fell.
Utilities and industrials were the other two sectors that pulled the S&P 500 lower. The growth leaders were consumer discretion and energy.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:) shares fell 1.1% to once again become the world’s third most valuable company, a day after it passed Apple (NASDAQ:) for second place.
Investors will be keeping an eye on Friday’s important US non-farm payrolls report. The weekly jobless claims report was the latest data pointing to a weakening labor market, which could allow the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates. The European Central Bank carried out its first interest rate cut since 2019.
“It’s a bit of a pause for the non-farm sector,” said Bill Strazullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston. “This is nothing unusual. Yesterday we had a big day, and today people are getting their positions where they want them even before payroll hits,” he said.
The S&P 500 rose 78.84 points, or 0.20%, to 38,886.17, the S&P 500 lost 1.07 points, or 0.02%, to 5,352.96 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 14.78. points, or 0.09%, to 17,173.12.
Rising shares of Nvidia and other artificial intelligence players have contributed much to Wall Street’s rally this year, with the chipmaker accounting for about a third of the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain of more than 12%.
Traders see a 68% chance of a rate cut in September, according to the FedWatch CME tool, and have budgeted for about two rate cuts this year, according to LSEG data. Forecasters polled by Reuters also expect two cuts.
“We are in an information vacuum between today and tomorrow,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York. “But overall we have embarked on a global, coordinated policy of central bank easing in the West that excludes Japan, which will tighten policy,” he added.
GameStop (NYSE:) shares rose 47% after an online influencer known as “Growling Kitty” posted on YouTube that he would be hosting a livestream on Friday.
Lululemon Athletics (NASDAQ:) rose 4.8% after beating first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations on Wednesday.
U.S.-listed shares of NIO fell 6.8% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker reported a quarterly net loss.
Shares of Five Below (NASDAQ:) fell 10.6% after the discount store operator cut its full-year net sales forecast.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.05-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, 1,729 rose and 2,445 fell as decliners outnumbered advancers by a 1.41-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 57 new highs and 110 new lows.
Total volume of shares traded on U.S. exchanges was about 10.4 billion, compared with an average of 12.7 billion over the last 20 trading days.