Stocks were lower at the halfway point Thursday in volatile trading, with the Dow Industrials down more than 1,000 points over two days. The S&P 500 fell more than a percent, while the Nasdaq fared slightly better.
The tech-heavy index saw fractional declines a day after a rout in tech stocks marked the worst market drop in eight months. Major tech companies like Microsoft ($MSFT), Facebook ($FB), and Alphabet ($GOOGL) had rebounded from Wednesday's losses with slight gains.
The continued sell-off was due in part to concerns about tightening monetary policy. President Trump has broken from tradition and repeatedly criticized the Fed for raising interest rates. He continued to attack Fed Chair Jerome Powell Thursday, saying he was "disappointed" in "far too stringent" rate hike decisions.
Earlier in the day, stocks briefly turned positive before extending their losses.
The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, an unexpectedly robust gain and the largest monthly rise since January, evidence that many companies remain confident enough to keep hiring despite high-interest rates and a hazy outlook for the economy.
The cost of financing a home surged again this week as the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed to its highest level since December 2000, further dimming the affordability outlook for many would-be homebuyers.
A commercial fisherman accused of conspiring with others to sell 200,000 pounds (90,000 kilos) of fish in excess of legal quotas has been convicted in federal court in New York.
