Other stock indexes around the world were mixed.
NEW YORK — Slumping stocks across most of Wall Street sent the S&P 500 to its worst loss in nearly four weeks on Thursday, undercut by a report showing layoffs are picking up across the country with coronavirus counts. Technology stocks had the sharpest drops after a better-than-expected profit report from Microsoft failed to satisfy investors expecting even more from the company, whose stock has largely defied gravity and the pandemic this year. The sector helped drag the S&P 500 down 40.36 points, or 1.2 percent, to 3,235.66 for its first loss in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 353.51 points, or 1.3 percent, to 26,652.33. The Nasdaq composite fell 244.71, or 2.3 percent, to 10,461. Other stock indexes around the world were mixed, while uncertainty across markets helped gold touch its highest price in nearly nine years. The setback wiped out three-quarters of the S&P 500′s gains from earlier in the week. Overall, the market is in a holding pattern and will likely remain there as investors gauge the path of the pandemic, business reopenings and the government’s reaction to them, said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede. “We’re going to be dealing with that until we get a vaccine or cure, whether we like it or not,” he said. “I don’t envy the people who have to make decisions regarding risk of this spreading versus the risk to people’s livelihoods. It’s a hard choice.” Thursday’s headline economic report was one that has taken on much more importance for markets through the pandemic: the weekly tally of workers applying for unemployment benefits. Last week, the count rose by 109,000 to a little more than 1.4 million. It breaks a stretch of 15 straight weeks of improvements, a streak that had raised investor optimism that the recession could prove to be shorter than expected.
