Stocks fell sharply Thursday, weighed down by technology shares and concerns that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady in December.
The Nasdaq composite led indexes lower, falling 2.3%, as chip stocks including Nvidia and Broadcom were hit hard. Tesla skidded 6.6% and data-center operator CoreWeave tumbled 8.3%. Nasdaq’s slide during November deepened to 3.6%, even as the government reopened after a record-long shutdown.
The Dow meanwhile fell 798 points, or 1.7%, with losses accelerating in the afternoon. The blue-chip index was dragged lower by Disney shares, which fell 7.7% after the company reported lower-than-expected revenue.
Investors are growing more concerned that the Fed might pause its interest-rate cutting campaign next month. On Thursday, futures pricing implied a roughly 50% chance of an interest-rate reduction at the Fed’s next meeting Dec. 10, down from more than 60% Wednesday and about 70% a week ago, according to CME data.
One subplot: how delayed economic reports will affect the Fed’s next move. A White House official said Thursday that an unemployment rate for October wouldn’t likely be published, but some labor data is still expected. Flight disruptions might also continue for a while, providing continued headwinds for consumer spending.
Cisco Systems stock bucked the trend, rising 4.6% and nearing its first record high in more than 25 years after the cyber-networking company raised its outlook. Verizon shares perked up 0.8% after The Wall Street Journal reported the telecom company is planning to cut about 15,000 jobs.
Precious-metals futures slipped a day after silver closed at record highs.
Bitcoin dropped 3.4% to about $98,076. It now stands about 22% below its all-time intraday high in October.
The Swiss franc strengthened against the dollar on hopes for lower U.S. tariffs. President Trump said this week he was considering cutting levies on Swiss goods.
