4-Day Rally Fizzles

Wall Street fell for the first time in five days Thursday amid mixed reports about the coronavirus around the world. The Dow dropped 135 points to 26,734, the S&P 500 dipped 10 points to 3,215, and the Nasdaq fell 76 points to 10,473. All the losses were under 1%. The slide wasn't confined to the US: Stocks in China saw their biggest drop in five months despite the government reporting 3.2% economic growth, reports the Wall Street Journal. The reason? The growth could not hide the fact that spending by Chinese consumers was weak, notes the AP.

“It’s just a tug of war,” Esty Dwek of Natixis Investment Managers tells the Journal, referring to the up-and-down news of late about the pandemic. “None of these risks look like they will entirely derail the recovery or rally, but you have to get over these hurdles to get the next leg up, and right now we still have a few of these hurdles to pass.” Retail sales in June rose 7.5%, more than expected, but fears of a resurgence in coronavirus cases dampened investors' mood. (More stock market stories.)