U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, as the recent labor market data reinforced prospects of aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
On the earnings front, IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported upbeat quarterly earnings, while AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) boosted its annual profit forecast.
Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), however, dropped around 6.6% on Thursday after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.51% to close at 11,046.71 on Thursday amid a slight decline in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares, while the S&P 500 fell 0.80%. The Dow Jones dropped around 90 points to settle at 30,333.59 in the previous session.
Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with utilities and industrials stocks recording the biggest decline on Thursday. Communication services and energy stocks, however, bucked the overall market trend, trading higher in the previous session.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 2.5% to close at 29.98 points on Thursday.
What is CBOE Volatility Index?
The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market’s expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.
