Stocks spent most of Thursday in positive territory thanks to strong gains in several mega-cap names. However, major indices took a nosedive in the final hour of the session as anxiety rose ahead of tomorrow morning's release of the March nonfarm payrolls report.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari's comments also poured cold water on the market's earlier momentum. In an interview with Pensiones e Inversiones Magazine, the central bank official wondered if it is even necessary to cut Interest rates with the economy as strong as it is. "If we continue to see inflation "If we move laterally, it would make me wonder if we need to make those rate cuts," Kashkari said.
As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 1.4% to 38,596, the S&P 500 was 1.2% lower at 5,147, and the Nasdaq Composite had lost 1.4% to 16,049.
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Several of the Magnificent 7 actions They were a source of strength from the beginning. tesla (TSLA ), for its part, recovered from the gloomy drop induced by this week's deliveries, adding 1.6%.
Shares of the electric vehicle maker are still down 31% so far this year, but Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest Tesla Stock May Hit $2,000 Per Share
Metaplatforms (GOAL ), a member of the Fab Four, the 7 best-performing Mag stocks of 2024 so far, was another notable gainer, adding 0.8%, or $11 billion in market value.
The rise in shares of Facebook parent company was a bullish note from Jefferies analyst Brent Thill. "We believe Meta could capture 50% of the industry's incremental advertising dollars in 2024, which would be the highest level ever recorded and well above its 33% in 2023," Thill wrote in a note to clients, and added that early tests show the company's generative AI (artificial intelligence) is driving click-through rates.
Thill, which has a Buy rating on the stock of communication services
Lamb Weston collapses after its results
Regarding Thursday's notable falls, Weston Lamb (L.W. ) plummeted 19.4% after the potato chip maker revealed its fiscal third-quarter results. For the three months ended February 25, earnings fell 18% year over year to $1.20 per share. Revenue rose 16% to $1.5 billion. Meanwhile, analysts were forecasting earnings per share of $1.46 on $1.7 billion in revenue.
"The transition to a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in North America negatively impacted our financial results in the quarter more than we expected," Lamb Weston CEO Tom Werner said in a statement. Press release
The good news is that the problem appears to be largely isolated to Lamb Weston's fiscal third quarter, says CFRA investigation stocks of consumer staples
Initial Jobless Claims Rise Ahead of May Jobs Report
In economic matters, data from the Department of Labor showed that Unemployment claims
While this indicates some slack in a strong labor market, tomorrow morning's monthly employment report "will have the final say," says Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investment at E*TRADE. Morgan Stanley
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