The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 200 points Thursday morning after the Labor Department reported an unexpected drop in the number of people filing for their first jobless check each week. Also, First Republic (NYSE:FRC), a regional bank, dropped 35% after Bloomberg said the company is “exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.”
The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSEARCA:KRE) lost another 1.3%, which was on top of the 1.6% loss it had on Wednesday. Several regional banks also went down, but not as much as in the last few sessions. Both Western Alliance (NYSE:WAL) and KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) lost money.
Also, Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), which caused the stock market to drop early on Wednesday, gained 6% after the Swiss central bank gave it a $53 billion lifeline.
First-time claims for unemployment fell to 192,000 from 211,000 the week before, which was much less than the expected drop to 205,000. The Commerce Department also said that the number of new homes started in February rose more than expected, from 1.309 million in January to 1.450 million in February. The number of house permits, which is a good indicator of how much building will happen in the future, went up more than expected in February, going from 1.339 million in January to 1.524 million in February.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s Manufacturing Index stayed in contraction in March, with a score of -23.2, up from -24.3.
Academy Sports & Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO), Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Dollar General (NYSE:DG), and Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) all reported earnings early Thursday.
Academy went up more than 5% in morning trading, while Adobe went up 3%. This is because both companies beat Wall Street’s sales and profit projections for the first quarter of the fiscal year and said they expect to make more money for the whole year.
Dollar General fell 1.5% after reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, and Five Below fell 4% after giving a bad outlook for the whole year. Both of these things happened late Wednesday.
Today’s Stock Market
The market leader in electric cars, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), was down 0.4% on Thursday morning. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), two tech giants that are part of the Dow Jones, were also down when the stock market opened today.
Chip leader Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), and Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW), as well as Dow Jones stocks Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM), are among the best stocks to watch during the recent drop in the stock market (NYE:CRM).
Today on the Dow Jones: Oil prices And Treasury Yields
After the opening bell on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite, which doesn’t follow financials, lost 0.5% in morning trading, with Adobe leading the way.
Early Thursday, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) were both down 0.5%.
On Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 3.49 percent as investors rushed back into bonds after Credit Suisse added to the problems in the financial sector. On Thursday morning, the yield on a 10-year Treasury fell to 3.4%.
After big drops on Wednesday, US oil prices stayed below $68 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate trading at its lowest level since December 2021.
On Wednesday, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell by 0.7%. The Nasdaq composite ended about where it started, helped by the “not a bank” strength of Big Tech. The Russell 2000 small-cap index lost 1.7%, which was the most of any other index.
Keep an Eye on Nike and Salesforce, Two Dow Jones Stocks
Since October 3, when they were at their lowest, Nike shares have gone up as much as 59% to a recent high of 131.31. At the moment, the stock is forming a flat base with a buy point of 131.41. Early Thursday, the stock of Nike fell 1.3%.
After recent drops, the stock has stayed below its important 50-day moving average. A decisive retake would be good for the possibility of building a base and making a pattern on the right flank. With the stock market correction getting worse quickly, the relative strength line is also still doing well.
Dow Jones leader Salesforce has shown a lot of strength to the upside in the past few weeks, thanks to good earnings in the fourth quarter. Last week’s market losses quickly wiped out the gains, but the stock is now back above a 178.94 cup-with-handle entry. Still, the market is going through a correction, so investors shouldn’t buy anything new until things get better. On Thursday, shares of CRM went up by 0.3%.
During the Stock Market Correction, Keep an Eye on These Three Fast-Growing Companies
AMD, Meta, and Palo Alto are companies to keep an eye on. On Wednesday’s 2.55% breakout move, AMD broke out past an 89.04 buy target in a flat base. With a high of 93.49, the stock ended the day in the “buy” range. On Wednesday, the IBD Screen Of The Day column talked about AMD. Thursday morning, AMD’s shares went up by 0.1%.
At the beginning of February, the chipmaker said that sales of chips for data centers in the fourth quarter were better than expected. But AMD changed their forecast for the next quarter.
Backstory: Like other social media sites, Meta is having a hard time because of a huge drop in advertising revenue. This is because clients are worried about macroeconomic problems, fears of a recession, and rising interest rates. At the same time, it is betting billions of dollars on a high-risk plan to build the “metaverse,” which is a virtual reality world that hasn’t taken off yet.
After a 12.5% rise on February 22, Palo Alto Networks is trading quietly in a handle. Shares are still close enough to the 192.94 buy point at the bottom to be worth buying. On Thursday, PANW stock went up 0.6%.
Backstory: On February 21, the cybersecurity giant reported good results for the quarter that ended in January. Earnings for the quarter were $1.05 per share, which was up 81% from the same time last year, and sales went up 26% to $1.7 billion.
Tesla Stock
On Wednesday, the stock of Tesla fell 1.5%, ending a three-day winning streak. Still, the stock is being bought and sold above its important 50-day moving average. On Wednesday, the stock closed about 53% below its 52-week high.
TSLA stock dropped 0.4% on Thursday morning, trying to make up for the losses from Wednesday.
Apple and Microsoft are the top two companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Wednesday, Apple’s stock went up 0.3%, which added to this week’s recovery from the long-term 200-day line. On Thursday morning, Apple fell 0.8%.
After the 1.8% gain on Wednesday, Microsoft shares went above their 200-day moving average. Because the building has a flat base, the new buy point for MSFT stock is now 276.86. Still, the stock price is about 16% below its 52-week high. On Thursday morning, the stock of Microsoft fell 0.3%.
Featured Image: Unsplash @ Markus Spiske
