US Stocks Sink, Dollar Jumps As Investors Fret Over Fed's Jackson Hole Event: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

U.S. equities are experiencing one of their most challenging sessions of the year Thursday, with all major indices showing losses in early afternoon trading. This cautious sentiment among investors is due to the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium beginning later today.

Despite Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) impressive earnings, tech stocks face a decline of over 2%, and semiconductors saw a drop of nearly 1%.

In terms of global dynamics, the BRICS nations are expanding their coalition to encompass new members Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, UAE, Egypt, Iran and Argentina. This move is coupled with their effort to establish a fresh trade currency as an alternative to the dollar.

The greenback, however, showcased its best session for the month, rising 0.5% against a basket of currencies.

Cues From Thursday's Trading:

The S&P 500 Index fell 1.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 underperformed, down 2.1%.

Blue chip stocks in the Dow Jones, as well as small caps in the Russell 2000, trimmed losses, down 0.7%,

US Index Performance On Tuesday

Thursday’s Trading In Major US Equity ETFs

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.5% lower to $440.71
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) fell 0.5% to $343.17 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) was 1% lower to $365, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Looking at S&P 500’s sector ETFs:

• The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) was the outperformer, up 0.3% today.
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) was the laggard, down 1.2%.

Latest Economic Data:

With the Jackson Hole Symposium kickstarting, the markets could look for cues from media interviews from Fed officials.

On the week ending Aug. 19, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 10,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised figure to 230,000, falling short of market estimates of 240,000.

New orders for manufactured durable goods fell by 5.2% in July, following a downwardly revised 4.4% increase in June and above market forecasts for a 4% fall. When transportation orders are excluded, durable goods grew 0.5% month over month in July 2023, following a downwardly revised 0.2% gain in June and exceeding predictions of a 0.2% increase.

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Stocks In Focus:

• Nvidia surged up about 3% following its second-quarter print.
• Semiconductor rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) fell 6%.
• Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) fell over 11%, as the company trimmed its annual profit forecast well below Wall Street estimates.
• Splunk, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLK) rose 14% in response to its strong quarterly earnings.
• Companies reporting after the close include Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA), Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) and Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS).

Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil rose 0.6%, with a barrel of WTI-grade crude trading at $79. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) was 0.3% higher to $71.58.  

Treasury yields were slightly higher, with the 10-year yield up by 2 basis points to 4.23% and the two-year yield up by 3 basis points to 5%. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) was 0.5% lower for the day. 

The dollar rose, with the U.S. dollar index, which is tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE:UUP), up 5%. The EUR/USD pair, which is tracked by the Invesco CurrecyShares Euro Currency Trust (NYSE:FXE), was 0.4% lower to 1.0820.

European equity indices had a mixed session. The SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 Etf  (NYSE:FEZ) fell 0.9%. 

Gold edged 0.1% up to $1,919/oz, while silver fell 0.6% to $24.14. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was 1.4% lower to $26,078.

Staff writer Piero Cingari updated this report midday Thursday. 

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