Wall Street Close: A down day for US benchmarks in jittery summer markets

The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Thursday although it did trade, again, above its record closing high. The Dow also fell in the wake of a disappointing forecast from Cisco Systems Inc CSCO. Overall, it was a typical summer jittery market place with plenty of geopolitical and domestic politics to keep the wheel of uncertainty turning. 

The Dow remains below its February peak and fell 80.12 points, or 0.29%, to 27,896.72, the S&P500 SPX lost 6.92 points, or 0.20%, to 3,373.43.  S&P 500 rose as high as 3,387.24 during the session, just above its record high closing level of 3,386.15 from Feb. 19. The Nasdaq Composite IXIC added30.27 points, or 0.27%, to 11,042.50.

In corporate news, an 11.2% slump in shares of Cisco Systems weighed on the Dow and S&P 500 after the company forecast first-quarter revenue and profit below estimates. Apple Inc AAPL shares climbed 1.8%, helping to support the Nasdaq and limiting losses in theS&P 500.  

As for data, jobless claims fell below 1 million for the first time since efforts to curb the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States began five months ago.

Data last week showed the economy had regained only 9.3 million of the 22 million jobs lost between February and April, indicating a long road to reach pre-pandemic levels. 

Keep in mind that even with the improvement, last week’s initial claims number was higher than any recorded during the Global Financial Crisis.

The better-than-expected data comes after stronger PPI and CPI data this week. While this points to some improvement in the economic recovery, the path ahead will be influenced heavily by what comes next on the fiscal stimulus side,

analysts at ANZ Bank explained. 

Meanwhile, investors continue to hold on to hopes Democrats and the White House can reach agreement on a stimulus package to help the economy recover.  Unemployment benefits have been a sticking point in their talks.

Looking forward, the US presidential election is expected to add another layer of uncertainty into markets, with roughly 12 weeks remaining until Election Day.   

SXP levels