A man walks through the subway sign on Wall Street on March 23, 2020 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Futures contracts tied with major U.S. stock indices ticked lower at the start of extended trading Wednesday night.
Dow Jones futures hit 4 points at the start of the overnight session and pointed to a slightly lower open when regular trading resumes Thursday morning. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures pointed to similar slips.
The after-hours movements come after a lower day in the regular session, as concerns about the Federal Reserve’s economic trajectory awaited investors’ day later.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 3,374.85, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 85.19 points, or 0.3%, to close at 27,692.88. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6% to 11,146.46.
In the minutes of its July meeting, the Fed said “the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment and inflation over the whole term and posed many risks to the economic outlook in the medium term.” The Fed kept rates unchanged over the past month, noting that the economy still needed monetary support.
That comment knocked the S&P 500 off a new intraday record on Wednesday. The Dow and Nasdaq also turned negative after the minutes were released.
However, Apple made history on Wednesday when the iPhone maker became the first American company to reach a market cap of $ 2 trillion. With that milestone, Apple officially doubled its value judgment in just over two years. The stock is up nearly 60% in 2020 and remains responsible for the market rally off its spring low.
Investors will receive an update on U.S. unemployment on Thursday, when the Department of Labor plans to release its latest report on unemployment claims. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones estimate that some 920,000 first-time applicants filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending August 15th.
Last week, the government reported that first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week fell below 1 million for the first time since March 21. Those who collect benefits for at least two weeks, known as ongoing claims, totaled nearly $ 15.5 million, according to the Pre-Claims Report of Labor Department.
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