US Stock Market Overview – Stock Slide on Soft Jobless Claims Report

US Stocks whipsawed on Thursday initially rising but turning lower into the close. News that the Senate was unable to pass a skinny bill that would keep the government running, weighed on equities. Yields moved higher and the dollar moved lower, while crude oil prices and natural gas continued to head south. This put downward pressure on energy shares. All sectors in the S&P 500 index were lower on Thursday led down by energy shares and technology. Cyclicals were the best performing sectors in a down tape. US producer prices came in slightly hotter than expected which helped buoy gold prices. US jobless claims rose less than expected reflecting a softening jobls market.

US PPI Rose More than Expected

U.S. producer prices rose more than anticipated.  The producer price index rose 0.3% in August after surging 0.6% in July, according to the Labor Department. Year over year through August, the PPI fell 0.2% after dropping 0.4% in the 12 months through July. Expectations had been for PPI to gain 0.2% in August and fall 0.3% on a year-on-year basis. Producer prices were led by a 0.5% increase in services. Excluding the volatile food, energy producer prices rose 0.3% in August, advancing by the same margin for three straight months.

Jobless Claims Rose More than Forecast

Weekly jobless claims rose by more than forecast according to a report Thursday by the Labor Department. First time claims increased by 884,000 compared with 850,000 expected by economists. The total was unchanged from the previous week. Continuing claims from those filing for at least two weeks rose from the previous week, hitting 13.385 million, an increase of 93,000 from last week’s report. The Labor Department changed its methodology in how it seasonally adjusts the numbers, so the past two weeks’ totals are not directly comparable to the reports from earlier in the pandemic.