Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, weighed by a slump in financials, as treasury yields fell amid a dip in investor expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates later this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 21,784.78. The S&P 500 closed 0.02% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6397.87, up 0.07%.
A more than 1% slump in shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) weighed on the broader market, as investor expectations of a December rate hike continued to fall, following data showing weakness in the labor market.
Higher interest rates are seen as boon for banks, boosting net interest margin – the difference between the interest income generated by banks and the amount of interest paid out to their lenders.
Initial jobless claims in the period running from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 surged by 62,000 to 298,000, reaching the highest level since spring 2015, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The fall in expectations of an additional rate hike later this year comes against comments from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, who said that the gradual increases in the fed-funds rate will be needed to sustain the expansion and mitigate risks.
In corporate news, shares of Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) closed 4% lower after the company issued profit warning and said earnings-per-share this year will roughly be in line with that of a year ago.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Visa Inc (NYSE:V) up 1.3%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 1.3% and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) up 1.2%
Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) down 4.4%, General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) down 3.6% and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) down 1.8%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.