Trader Robert Charmak works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, July 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
By Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga
Major US stock indexes closed mostly lower Thursday, pulling back further from the record highs they reached at the start of the week.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% after shedding an early gain. The benchmark index is now on pace for its first weekly loss in four weeks.
Technology and communications stocks, and companies that rely on consumer spending, accounted for much of the pullback, outweighing gains elsewhere in the market. Energy stocks fell following a broad slide in energy prices. Among the winners were financial stocks, including banks, which have been reporting mostly solid earnings.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.30% from 1.35% the day before.
Investors continued to focus on where the economy is headed as the pandemic wanes and on what companies have to say about how higher inflation is affecting their business.
“As long as inflation ends up being transitory, as the Fed believes, the economy is set to continue to do real well,” said Chris Gaffney, president of TIAA Bank World Markets. "The big risk is that inflation spikes and stays here.”
The S&P 500 fell 14.27 points to 4,360.03. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 101.82 points, or 0.7%, to 14,543.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend and bounced back after being down much of the day. The blue-chip index gained 53.79 points, or 0.2%, to 34,987.02.
Small company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index lost 12.07 points, or 0.6%, to 2,190.29.
On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered his second day of testimony before Congress. Powell reiterated that signs of inflation should ease or reverse over time, while acknowledging that the U.S. is in the midst of an unparalleled economic reopening on the heels of a pandemic-induced recession.
The government said Wednesday that inflation at the wholesale level jumped 1% in June, pushing price gains over the past 12 months up by a record 7.3%. That followed a report a day earlier showing consumer prices posted the biggest 12-month gain in 13 years.
Investors are also trying to determine how the economic recovery will play out for the rest of the year as the world tries to get back to normal with COVID-19 waning, but still lingering.
“There’s a big question mark around COVID-19 shifting from an acute to a chronic condition for the global market,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management.
While the virus and its variants aren’t likely to severely disrupt the economic recovery, expectations for a quick snapback have been stymied by persistent mutations, he said.
New data on applications for unemployment benefits signaled the labor market continues to improve. The Labor Department said Thursday that unemployment claims fell by 26,000 last week to 360,000, the lowest level since the pandemic struck last year.
More companies released their latest quarterly earnings Thursday. Progressive fell 2.6% after the insurance company’s results fell far short of analysts’ forecasts. Morgan Stanley rose 0.2% after reporting a 10% rise in quarterly profits from a year earlier.
A larger bulk of companies will start reporting next week, when earnings season gets into full swing.
American International Group, better known as AIG, rose 3.6% after the insurance company reached a deal with Blackstone Group to help manage some of its life insurance assets.
Things are expensive: both the important and the not-so-important stuff. October saw the largest year-to-year increase in the consumer price index in over 30 years. Inflation remains a top concern for the average American consumer as some stress over the price of everyday essentials like milk, beef, and gasoline.
But that doesn't seem to be affecting overall retail shopping.
U.S. retail sales rose by 1.7% in October, a sign that consumers are willing to spend more heading into the holidays despite rising inflation. The elevated spending levels suggest solid holiday sales this month and next. On top of that, major retailers like Target and Walmart have come out this week and said they're set to be fully stocked for the holiday season, easing any concerns customers might have about supply chain issues leaving empty shelves before the holidays.
Brittain Ladd, retail strategist and consultant, joins None of the Above to discuss.
Tanya Snyder, transportation reporter at Politico, joins None of the Above with J.D. Durkin to discuss the bipartisan infrastructure law, what it means for the electric vehicle industry and whether Democrats will be able to capitalize on the legislative victory ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Twitter announced a partnership with S&P Dow Jones Indices on Thursday to build the S&P 500 Sentiment Index for monitoring the performance of 200 S&P members based on tweets with company $cashtags. Jared Podnos, strategic market development lead at Twitter, and Peter Roffman, global head of innovation and strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, joined Cheddar to provide some background on the partnership and to explain exactly how monitoring companies through public opinion will work. "[The S&P] taps into this conversation. They understand the real-time conversation as well as the historical trends, and then we can analyze that and understand the consumer sentiment and really build these innovative products around that conversation," Podnos added.
Cognitive healthcare platform BrainCheck recently raised $10 million in a Series B round. The platform offers neurologists a new way to detect and care for brain disorders like Alzeheimer's, and brain injuries like concussions. BrainCheck CEO Yael Katz joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Stocks closed mixed today, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both notching record closing highs. Veronica Willis, investment strategy analyst at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, recent inflation data, rising oil prices, and more.
Jean-Denis Mariani, the chief digital officer at COTY, the parent company for major brands like Bottega Veneta, Burberry, and Kylie Skin, joined Cheddar to talk about the impact of the pandemic on the beauty industry and the rapid shift to e-commerce sales. "There is no digital strategy anymore, only strategy in a digital world," he said. Mariani also talked about personalized makeup selection for consumers as the beauty sector begins to incorporate technology like artificial intelligence.
Amid an ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage, American automaker Ford has decided to open up supply chains of its own. Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, joined Cheddar to discuss Ford's new partnership with multinational semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries to build those chips domestically. Brauer praised Ford for the move both for ongoing supply woes and the future of automobile manufacturing. "It's not just the supply chain," he said. "It's not just about getting chips, but maybe getting chips that are more customized and specific to your needs."
Gerald Johnson, Executive VP, Global Manufacturing and Sustainability at General Motors, joins Cheddar News to break down what Factory ZERO signifies for GM's all-electric future and why the auto manufacturer will be a leader in the growing EV industry.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, a record 4.4-million people quit their job in September, with data showing there are seven unemployed workers for every ten job openings.
However, Americans aren't just quitting their jobs for more suitable ones, many are embracing their entrepreneurial side, leaving to start their own business. Dick Schulze, founder of Best Buy joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
