US stock markets closed mixed on Thursday, as investors weighed the ongoing earnings season and President Donald Trump’s rapid policy changes, with particular focus on Amazon’s (AMZN) quarterly report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropped 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained over 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose by 0.5%, following two consecutive positive days for the major indices.
Although concerns over tariffs had earlier rattled the market, these tensions seemed to subside somewhat. Investors, however, remained cautious, eyeing upcoming earnings reports for any signs of corporate warning signals. Tech and semiconductor earnings, in particular, are being closely scrutinized for insights into the strength of AI demand.
The market eagerly awaited Amazon’s quarterly results, which were set to be released after the bell, especially in light of Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) disappointing cloud sales. Alphabet’s weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales guidance caused shares to dip by about 3%.
In other corporate news, Salesforce (CRM) saw its stock decline following announcements regarding changes in management. Honeywell (HON) also faced a drop in shares after revealing plans to split the company into three distinct entities.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided some relief to the Federal Reserve by clarifying that President Trump is focused on lowering 10-year Treasury yields to reduce borrowing costs, rather than pushing for lower interest rates. The benchmark yield (^TNX) was trading near its lowest level since December, at about 4.43%.
On the economic front, jobless claims rose to 219,000 last week, slightly exceeding expectations of 213,000. The data comes ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report on Friday, with investors looking for clues regarding the Federal Reserve’s next steps in light of potential inflation risks.
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