After the Christmas Day holiday on Wednesday, the stock market experienced a slight decline in trading on Thursday. The primary indices showed a downturn, but the intensity of the selling pressure remained relatively mild.
At this juncture, the key indices have rebounded slightly from their session lows, although they continue to trade in negative territory. The Dow has decreased by 84.67 points, or 0.2%, settling at 43,212.36. The Nasdaq has fallen by 50.76 points, or 0.3%, to 19,980.36, and the S&P 500 has dipped by 11.82 points, or 0.2%, to 6,028.22.
This slight weakening on Wall Street is attributed to traders capitalizing on the recent market strength seen as the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 nearly recovered from last week's downturn.
The Dow had recently closed higher for four consecutive sessions following a ten-day losing streak, while both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 recorded gains across three successive sessions.
Overall, trading activity remains subdued, with many traders still taking time off following the Christmas Day holiday on Wednesday.
Several major international markets remained closed on Thursday in recognition of Boxing Day, which could contribute to some market participants remaining on the sidelines.
In terms of U.S. economic developments, the Labor Department released data this morning indicating that initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower for the week ending on December 21st.
The report notes that initial jobless claims fell to 219,000, a slight decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 220,000. Economists had anticipated jobless claims would rise to 224,000.
Despite the slight pullback in broader markets, the major sectors are only exhibiting modest movements throughout the day.
In international trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific displayed mixed results on Thursday, with several principal markets closed for Boxing Day. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 1.1%, whereas South Korea's Kospi declined by 0.4%.
Conversely, all major European markets remained closed to observe Boxing Day.
In the bond market, treasuries have pivoted back to a downturn after overcoming early weaknesses to close Tuesday roughly flat. Consequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which inversely correlates to its price, has increased by 4.6 basis points to 4.633%.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
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