Stocks were mixed after a new report showed new jobless claims resurged to more than 850,000 last week, as a wave of coronavirus cases and more virus-related restrictions unwound some of the progress in the labor market’s recovery.
Concerning new economic data added to traders’ jitters. New jobless claims came in at 853,000 last week, for a print well above the 725,000 expected. Continuing claims also unexpectedly rose, underscoring the increasing economic toll from the latest jump in coronavirus cases as lawmakers stall in passing a new round of relief measures.
Lawmakers still appear to be far from convening on the scope of another round of virus relief aid. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s $916 billion plan he offered earlier this week, as it includes fewer funds for unemployment benefits. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has balked liability protections and state and local government aid included in a bipartisan group of lawmaker’s $916 billion outline.
The coronavirus relief package was expected to be attached to the government’s broader spending bill for the fiscal year, which lawmakers also have still not passed. In an effort to buy more time to reach an agreement, the House of Representatives passed a one-week government funding extension to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate is also expected to pass the stopgap funding bill.
Despite the pressure to the broader market, one pocket of the market has still performed exceptionally well: newly public companies. DoorDash (DASH) on Wednesday debuted with a stock pop of 78% above its initial public offering price of $102 per share. The unprofitable food delivery company’s market capitalization ballooned to about $68 billion, or multiples above the $16 billion valuation it last fetched in private markets. Software company C3.ai (AI), meanwhile, saw shares more than double in their first day of trading.
Airbnb (ABNB) shares opened for trading at $146 on Thursday, for a valuation of more than $100 billion on a fully diluted basis. It priced its IPO Wednesday evening at $68 per share, or above its targeted range, and it raised $3.5 billion in the offering, for one of this year’s largest.
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4:04 p.m. ET: Stocks end mixed amid stimulus talks stalemate, jump in initial jobless claims
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:04 p.m. ET:
Gold (GC=F): +$1.40 (+0.08%) to $1,839.90 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -3.3 bps to yield 0.9080%
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3:13 p.m. ET: Dow and S&P 500 hold lower, while Nasdaq ticks up
The three major indices were mixed as trading rolled on Thursday afternoon. The Dow fell by about 70 points, or 0.24%, as shares of Verizon and UnitedHealth Group lagged. The industrials, materials and communications services sectors underperformed and weighed on the S&P 500, while the energy sector jumped more than 2.5% to extend its recent run of outperformance and make up some of its year-to-date losses.
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1:39 p.m. ET: Airbnb shares open for trading at $146 apiece on Thursday, soaring 114.7% above IPO price
Airbnb’s (ABNB) stock opened for trading on the Nasdaq at $146 per share on Thursday, jumping sharply above its initial public offering price as traders snapped up shares of the newly public company.
At this pricing, Airbnb fully diluted valuation was more than $100 billion, surging from its last private valuation of $18 billion this past spring.
Heading into its public debut, demand for Airbnb’s shares kept marching higher. Earlier this week, the San Francisco-based company said it planned to market shares at between $56 and $60 apiece to raise as much as $3.1 billion on a $42 billion valuation. That range was in turn raised from $44 to $50 per share earlier in December, in a testament to the increasing demand for the company’s stock.
Airbnb’s first day of trading comes a day after DoorDash’s, which also went public with an upsized IPO. DoorDash’s market capitalization at the end of its first day of trading was more than $60 billion, after last being valued at $16 billion in private markets earlier this year.
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10:22 a.m. Airbnb indicated to open at $150 per share after pricing IPO at $68
Airbnb shares pointed to an opening price of $150 Thursday morning, in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq.
This would mark a more than doubling from its IPO price of $68 a share on Wednesday. The actual opening price could still change, and more indications will likely come in from the Nasdaq as the price discovery process continues. DoorDash did not open for trading on the New York Stock Exchange until several hours after the opening bell on Wednesday.
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9:30 a.m. ET: Stocks open lower
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:30 a.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): -19.01 points (-0.52%) to 3,653.81
8:35 a.m. ET: Consumer prices ticked up slightly more than expected in November, though inflationary pressures remain weak
The Labor Department’s monthly consumer price index (CPI) pointed to a slightly faster-than-expected rise in prices last month, though the pandemic has still kept inflationary pressures largely muted.
The CPI rose 0.2% in November month-over-month after a flat reading in October. An index tracking prices in food away from home ticked higher, as did the index for energy prices, though declines in prices for food at home partially offset these.
Over last year, consumer prices rose 1.2%, or faster than the 1.1% rise expected. Excluding the more volatile food and energy prices, consumer prices increased 1.6% over last year, still coming in below the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.
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8:30 a.m. ET: New jobless claims jump above 800,000 for the first time since September
New weekly unemployment claims surged to 853,000 last week, or well above the 725,000 consensus economists were expecting, according to Bloomberg data. New weekly claims are now about four times greater than they were before the pandemic, when they were averaging about 200,000 per week. Still, they are down from a pandemic-era high of nearly 6.9 million in late March.
Continuing jobless claims, meanwhile, unexpectedly rose last week, though the metric has still made strides from its pandemic-era high of nearly 25 million in May. Continuing claims, measuring the total number of Americans still receiving state unemployment benefits, came in at 5.757 million after totaling 5.527 million in the prior week. Consensus economists were looking for 5.210 million.
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7:12 a.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures point to a mixed open
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 7:12 a.m. ET:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,673.25, up 0.75 points or 0.02%
Dow futures (YM=F): 30,104.00, up 41 points or 0.14%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 12,348.25, down 18.75 points or 0.15%
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 6:04 p.m. ET Wednesday:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,673.00, up 0.5 points or 0.01%
Dow futures (YM=F): 30,073.00, up 10 points or 0.03%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 12,360.00, down 7 points or 0.06%
A trader makes a phone call outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 20, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. - Wall Street stocks were mixed early July, 20, 2020 as markets awaited congressional debate on another round of stimulus spending and major earnings releases later in the week. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP) (Photo by JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)
