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Dow sheds 360 points, tech stocks push Nasdaq to gains

A statue of George Washington looks over the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City on June 26. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
A statue of George Washington looks over the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City on June 26. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 9 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell on Thursday the Labor Department's latest unemployment report and a substantial loss reported by Walgreens.

The Dow erased its gains for the week, ending the day down 361.19 points, or 1.39 percent, while the S&P 500 droped 0.56 percent. The Nasdaq Composite ended the with gains, rising 0.53 percent behind strong tech stocks.

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, a major pharmacy and healthcare chain, announced plans Thursday to lay off about 4,000 workers due to losses attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company reported a third-quarter loss of 1.7 billion.

Walgreens was one of the worst-performing stocks on the Dow Thursday, falling 7.76 percent.

Earlier, the Labor Department reported that 1.3 million additional American workers filed new unemployment claims last week, a decline of about 100,000 from the previous week.

Stocks that would benefit from the reopening of businesses by lifting restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 declined on Thursday amid ongoing concern over increasing cases in some parts of the country.

United Airlines stock sank 7.25 percent, American Airlines stock fell 6.76 percent and Delta stock declined 5.07 percent. Royal Caribbean stock dropped 5.89 percent and Carnival stock slid 4.83 percent, while Kohl's stock dropped 7.25 percent.

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Despite the general losses, tech stocks flourished on Thursday, as Amazon stock rose 3.29 percent to reach an all-time high. Stock for Google's parent company, Alphabet, rose 1 percent, Microsoft gained 0.70 percent and Apple gained 0.36 percent.

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