US stocks were largely in the red territory on Thursday, 18 April 2024, with the Dow closing just above its flatline, while the Nasdaq and the S&P500 indexes notched fifth straight session of declines amid concerns inflation is no longer cooling and the Federal Reserve could ease back on interest rate cuts.
Potentially adding to the interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of April. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity jumped to 15.5 in April from 3.2 in March, with a positive reading indicating growth.
Several Fed officials warned this week that sticky inflation will give the central bank little impetus to begin cutting interest rates early in 2024. Their comments came amid sustained signs of economic strength in the U.S., which also gives the Fed more headroom to keep rates higher.
At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index edged up 22.07 points, or 0.06%, to 37,775.38. The S&P500 index fell 11.09 points, or 0.22%, to 5,011.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index decreased by 81.87 points, or 0.52%, to 15,601.50.
Total 4 of 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with information technology sector suffered the largest losses in%age term, falling 0.9%, while communication services was top performing sector, rising 0.65%.
ECONOMIC NEWS: The Labor Department also released a report showing initial jobless claims came in at 212,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales plunged by 4.3% to an annual rate of 4.19 million in March after surging by 9.5% to a rate of 4.38 million in February.
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