Stock indexes continue their recent vacillations, as equities are largely selling off again today after moving higher Wednesday, following a bleak Federal Reserve Minutes release and dire unemployment data.
Stock indexes rallied ahead of the Federal Reserve minutes from last month, but have since slumped back into the prior day’s range. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.28% from Wednesday, the S&P 500 shed 0.6%, while the Nasdaq has given up 0.65%, as the indexes struggle to break out of the recent range that began last month.
Stock Index ETFs are red today as well, tracking moves in the benchmark stock indexes. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), is off by 0.46%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is 0.17% lower, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), is leading the other ETFs down, slipping 0.75%
For over two months now, millions of Americans have filed for initial unemployment benefits. Even as the economy is starting to reopen in certain regions of the country, layoffs and furloughs have gripped the US labor market, causing serious damage.