Thursday saw a challenging session for U.S. equities, with all major indices experiencing losses in early afternoon trading. The cautious sentiment among investors is due to the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium that begins later today.
Despite Nvidia Corp.’s impressive earnings, tech stocks faced a decline of over 2%, while semiconductors saw a drop of nearly 1%.
On a global scale, the BRICS nations are expanding their coalition to include new members Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, and Argentina. Additionally, they are working towards establishing a new trade currency as an alternative to the dollar.
However, the U.S. dollar had its best session for the month, rising 0.5% against a basket of currencies.
In terms of index performance, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 underperformed, down 2.1%. Blue chip stocks in the Dow Jones and small caps in the Russell 2000 trimmed losses, down 0.7%.
Looking at major U.S. equity ETFs, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was 0.5% lower, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF fell 0.5%, and the Invesco QQQ Trust was 1% lower.
Within the S&P 500’s sector ETFs, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund was the outperformer, up 0.3%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund was the laggard, down 1.2%.
In terms of economic data, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased, but it fell short of market estimates. New orders for durable goods also saw a decline in July.
Stocks in focus included Nvidia, which saw a 3% surge, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which fell 6%. Dollar Tree Inc. experienced a significant drop of over 11%, while Splunk, Inc. rose 14% in response to strong quarterly earnings.
Commodity, bond, and other global equity markets experienced mixed results. Crude oil rose 0.6%, while treasury yields and the U.S. dollar both saw increases. European equity indices had a mixed session as well. Gold edged up, while silver and Bitcoin saw declines.
Overall, it was a challenging day for U.S. equities as investors remained cautious ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium.
