Stocks kicked off Thursday's session trading lower following the release of disappointing unemployment data and mixed reactions to the latest corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 45 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 traded 0.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%.
U.S. weekly jobless claims came in at 1.416 million for last week, marking the 18th straight week in which initial claims totaled more than 1 million. Economists expected another 1.3 million workers to have filed initial claims for state unemployment benefits, according to Dow Jones.
"The surge of COVID cases in the Sun Belt and the stalling out of reopening activities in other states has seemingly caused another round of layoffs that has stymied the nascent labor market recovery," said Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies, in a note.
This stalling in the labor market comes as lawmakers work on an additional stimulus package for those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, sources told CNBC that Republicans were considering extending a $600-per-week unemployment benefit at a reduced rate of $100 per week. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an extension in unemployment benefits will be based on "approximately 70% wage replacement."
Wall Street's attention was also on earnings announcements from several U.S. companies, but especially Microsoft and carmaker Tesla.
Despite better-than-expected figures, software giant Microsoft shares fell 2%. Though the company's results were largely positive, Microsoft said its transactional license purchasing continued to slow and that subsidiary LinkedIn was negatively impacted by the weak job market.
Tesla, meanwhile, blew past analyst expectations and posted its fourth consecutive quarter of profit, opening the door for the company's inclusion in the S&P 500. Excluding one-time charges, Tesla's second-quarter earnings per share of $2.18 were well above the 3 cents per share expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Elon Musk's automaker also said it's set "for a successful second half" and reiterated its goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles this year. Tesla shares rose 5.5%.
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July 23, 2020 at 05:06AM
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Stocks edge lower after disappointing unemployment data, Microsoft dips after earnings - CNBC
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