U.S. Stocks Show Substantial Move To The Downside

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks saw even further downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside after closing mixed for two consecutive sessions.

The major averages ended the just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plummeted 536.10 points or 2.3 percent to 22,870.36, the S&P 500 plunged 113.43 points or 1.7 percent to 6,737.49 and the Dow tumbled 797.60 points or 1.7 percent to 47,457.22.

The Dow pulled back well off the record closing high set on Wednesday amid a steep drop by shares of Disney (DIS), with the entertainment giant diving by 7.8 percent.

Disney came under pressure after the company reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.

Valuation concerns also continued to weigh on tech stocks, with AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) moving sharply lower along with tech heavyweights like Broadcom (AVGO) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

The weakness on Wall Street may also have reflected uncertainty whether key U.S. economic will be released following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

While President Donald Trump has signed a short-term funding bill, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that the October jobs and consumer price inflation reports are "likely never being released" as a result of the shutdown.

As a result, traders and the Federal Reserve may continue to be left "flying blind" with regard to the strength of the U.S. economy.

Potentially due to the concerns about a continued lack of data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of another quarter point rate cut at the next Fed meeting have slumped to 51.6 percent from 62.9 percent a day ago.

Sector News

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index plummeting by 7.0 percent.

Semiconductor, networking and software stocks also saw substantial weakness, contributing to the steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Outside of the tech sector, gold, financial and airline stocks showed significant moves to the downside amid broad-based weakness on Wall Street.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.1 percent and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after moving notably higher in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.7 basis points at 4.112 percent.