Stocks slumped in midday trading, weighed down by technology shares, which continued their November slide.
The Nasdaq composite led indexes lower, falling more than 2%, as chip stocks including Nvidia and Broadcom were hit hard. Tesla skidded 7%. The moves came as the government reopened after the record-long shutdown. Flight disruptions might continue for a while, and investors are still awaiting word from federal agencies on when to expect backlogged economic data.
This month has been mixed for stocks. Investors have generally rotated out of the largest tech names that have powered indexes higher all year. The Nasdaq is down for the month, while the Dow industrials clung to gains a day after hitting a record high.
Thursday, the Dow fell about 600 points, weighed down by Disney shares, which fell 7% after the company reported lower-than-expected revenue. Cisco’s stock neared its first record high in more than 25 years after the cyber-networking company raised its outlook. Verizon shares perked up more than 1% after The Wall Street Journal reported the telecom company is planning to cut about 15,000 jobs.
Investors are also trying to gauge how delayed economic reports will affect the Federal Reserve’s next policy decision. A White House official said Thursday that an unemployment rate for October wouldn’t likely be published, but some labor data is still expected.
On Thursday, futures pricing implied a just over 50% chance of an interest-rate cut in December, down from more than 60% Wednesday, according to CME data.
Precious-metal futures rose, with silver at record highs.
The Swiss franc strengthened against the dollar on hopes for lower U.S. tariffs. President Trump said this week he was considering cutting levies on Swiss goods.
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