By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S stock futures held steady in overnight trade on Thursday, as major benchmark indices registered their fourth consecutive session of losses as market participants retreated on concerns the Fed could move sooner than expected to scale back its accommodative policies following better than expected weekly jobless claims data.
During the regular session on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 151.69 points or 0.43% to 34879.39, the S&P 500 slid 0.46% as both indices posted their fourth consecutive day of declines. The NASDAQ Composite dipped 0.25% for its second straight day of losses. It’s the first time since the middle of August that the tech-heavy index has registered back-to-back losses. All three indices are set to finish the week in the red.
Among stocks, big technology names fell as risk sentiment waned, with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) falling 0.99% and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) declining 1.17%. Meantime, GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) closed 0.19% higher, recovering from post-earnings losses as the company failed to provide an outlook for the upcoming quarters and details on its e-commerce transformation. Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) also soared 10.47% after providing strong earnings results, as demand for its yoga pants remains strong.
Among data, a better-than-expected initial jobless claims reading capped Thursday’s losses as filings for unemployment claims in the U.S. dropped to new pandemic low of 310,000 last week, beating expectations of 335,000.