Market Snapshot: Dow stumbles early Thursday after 3-day rally, as stock market weighs lowest jobless claims in over 50 years

How are stock benchmarks trading?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average
  DJIA,
  -0.23%
  fell 150 points, or 0.4%, to 35,607.

• The S&P 500
  SPX,
  -0.22%
  declined 9 points, or 0.2%, to 4,692.

• The Nasdaq Composite Index
  COMP,
  -0.28%
  declined less than 0.1% to reach 15,786 and had briefly turned positive near Thursday’s open.

On Wednesday, the Dow rose 35 points, or 0.1%, to 35,755, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, or 14 points, to 4,701, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 100 points, or 0.6%, to 15,787. The preliminary data from Pfizer
PFE,
+1.66%
and BioNTech
BNTX,
+0.28%
showing their vaccine at three doses was effective against the omicron variant of coronavirus has further calmed market fears.

What’s driving the market?

Markets were looking at employment data that showed that new applications for unemployment benefits sank to a 52-year low of 184,000 for the week ended Dec. 4, the Labor Department said Thursday.

However, the big decline — new claims hit the lowest since September 1969 — stemmed largely from holiday-related quirks and is somewhat exaggerated.

Still, traders appear to be looking ahead to Friday’s key consumer inflation data, which are expected to confirm the pressures that will lead the Federal Reserve to decide to increase the bond taper process. The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will meet Dec. 14-15.

“Most indices are now stabilizing, solidifying the recent gains registered after investors started to play down worries over the omicron variant. The trading environment is however likely to stay significantly volatile as uncertainty remains regarding monetary policies in the U.S., especially after last week’s poor job report and high inflation numbers,” said Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.

The Fitch Ratings decision to lower the credit rating of home builder China Evergrande
3333,
+4.05%
to restricted default reignited worries around the Chinese property sector. Fitch cited Evergrande’s nonpayment of coupons on two dollar-denominated bonds.

Which companies are in focus?

• Brazilian digital bank Nu Holdings priced its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange at $9 per share, valuing the Warren Buffett-backed lender at more than $41 billion. “This will mark one of the biggest publicly listed fintech companies in the world and provide a glimpse into the feasibility of running a large digital only bank,” said analysts at Saxo Bank.

• Another high-profile new listing, HashiCorp, priced its IPO at $80, valuing the cloud-based software provider at $14 billion.

How are other assets faring?

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y fell to around 1.49%, from 1.508% Wednesday. Treasury yields and prices move in opposite directions.

• The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, a measure of the currency against a half-dozen other monetary units, was up 0.2% at 96.126.

• In oil futures, West Texas Intermediate crude CL00 for January delivery CLF22 was trading 1% lower at $71.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, pulling back from Wednesday’s two-week high.

• Gold futures GC00 for February delivery GCG22 declined 0.2% at $1,782.50 an ounce.

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index SXXP was trading 0.2% lower, while London’s FTSE 100 Index UKX was down 0.2%.

• In Asia, the Shanghai Composite IndexSHCOMP closed 1% higher, while the Hang Seng Index HSI rose 1.1% in Hong Kong and China’s CSI 300 000300 advanced 1.7%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index
  NIK,
  -0.47%,
  however, closed down 0.5%.