By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Wall Street moved pared some losses on Thursday, as tech rebounded from intraday lows though weakness in stocks tied to the progress of the economy kept the broader market in the red.
The S&P 500 lost 0.54%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.44% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.27%.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial jobless claims decreased by about 100,000 to 1.31 million in the week ended July 3, beating forecasts for a decline to 1.3 million.
Continuing claims fell 698,000 to 18.06 million, extending a trend of downside momentum that is "encouraging," Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said. "Continuing claims are down 2.5 million over the past 4 weeks."
Despite the backdrop of resilience seen in the labor market, investors have cooled expectations for a V-shape economic recovery, as several states have paused, or rolled back reopening measures to contain a surge in cases in Covid-19 hotspots including Texas, California, and Florida.
Stocks tied to the progress of the reopening, and ultimately the economy, continue to come under pressure.
Airlines and cruise stocks retreated, with American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) and Carnival (NYSE:CCL), both down more than 4%, among the notable decliners.
In tech, the so-called Fab 5, continued to hold onto slender gains. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), all which collectively make up about 40% of the Nasdaq, traded above the flatline.
Energy led the selloff, paced by a decline oil prices as the pause of reopening measures in pockets of the U.S. offset signs of a recovery in gasoline demand seen a day earlier.
Financials were not far behind, falling 2% just days ahead of quarterly results from banks. The second-quarter earnings reports for a slew of Wall Street banks are likely to underscore a rough quarter amid rising loan loss provisions and weaker profit from lending activity weighed down by near-zero interest rates.
Elsewhere, AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) rallied as rumors swirled the company had hired Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to explore a sale.