fbpx
published on August 19, 2021 - 1:54 PM
Written by

Major indexes closed mixed on Wall Street Thursday after another choppy day of trading. The S&P 500 ended with a gain of just 0.1% after wobbling between gains and losses for much of the day. Even though most stocks in the S&P 500 fell, the benchmark index managed to rise thanks largely to gains in several big technology companies, like Microsoft. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

Small-company stocks lost ground. Prices for crude oil and other commodities fell broadly, pulling mining and energy stocks lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.25%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Stocks indexes are mixed in afternoon trading on Wall Street Thursday after a veering between gains and losses for much of the day.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2% as of 3:44 p.m. Eastern, after having been down 0.7% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47 points, or 0.1% to 34,913 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Small-companies fell broadly. The Russell 2000 fell 1.1%.

A late-afternoon rally in technology stocks helped offset some of the losses in energy companies, banks and other sectors. Prices for oil and other commodities fell broadly, pulling mining and energy stocks lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.25%.

Technology companies made broad gains, including 3.7% for chipmaker Nvidia after reporting strong financial results, but those gains were outweighed by a slide in financial and industrial stocks. Companies that rely on consumer spending also weighed heavily on the market. Energy stocks took the heaviest losses in the S&P 500 as energy prices fell.

The broader market has been losing ground overall since the benchmark S&P 500 reached another record high on Monday.

Every major index is on track for a weekly loss.

Much of the choppiness, especially in the S&P 500, is due to investors trying to position themselves as they gauge the pace of the recovery and how it will benefit different sectors of the economy.

“One of the challenges right now is we’re getting some degree of a mixed message about what is working and what’s not,” said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

The market first has to gauge the near-term prospects for the economy as COVID-19 remains a threat, Freedman said. At the same time, investors have to also focus on what the economy looks like after the virus recedes or when the world learns to live with the virus in a different way.

“There’s going to be a lot of fits and starts,” he said.

Commodities fell broadly, with everything from oil to agricultural commodities to metals moving lower. Copper prices fell 1.9%, while the price of U.S. crude oil closed 2.7% lower. The drop in commodities prices dragged down oil companies and those who extract raw materials for industrial uses. Miner Freeport-McMoRan, Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum fell 3% or more.

The volatility in the commodities markets is notable because investors have been acutely focused on inflation as the global economy emerges from the pandemic. Earlier this year prices for basic materials like lumber and copper and gasoline were all rising steadily and several high multi-year highs. Most of those gains have now been erased with declines in recent weeks.

Investors got a bit of positive economic news when the Labor Department reported another weekly drop in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits. Claims fell 29,000 to 348,000 last week, a pandemic low. The four-week average fell 19,000 to just below 378,000, also a pandemic low.

While stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 are now down roughly 1.4% this week, fund managers do not expect much volatility this month as investors will have little data to work with and earnings season is now mostly over. August also tends to be a popular month for investors to take their vacations, so trading is typically slower. September tends to be a much more volatile month once Wall Street is back to work.

Government bond yields fell. The 10-year Treasury note traded at a yield of 1.25%, down from 1.27% the day before.

Robinhood sank 11.2% as traders worried that the booming growth at the popular online brokerage app could slow down.

Macy’s soared 19.8% after issuing a strong forecast and reporting earnings that were far bigger than analysts were expecting. That put the iconic department store operator on track for its biggest percentage gain since May 2020.


e-Newsletter Signup

Our Weekly Poll

Do you think Valley Children's Hospital will lose financial support due to CEO pay revelations?
110 votes

Central Valley Biz Blogs

. . .