The stock market had a rough day on Thursday, with big tech stocks leading the fall. For the day, the Dow fell 130 points to 27,901, the S&P 500 fell 28 points to 3,357, and the Nasdaq fell 140 points to 10,910. Facebook and Amazon were among the big decliners, down 4% and 3% respectively in afternoon trading, reports CNBC. The Wall Street Journal blames the sour mood among investors in part on the Fed's gloomy forecast on Wednesday, when Fed chief Jerome Powell labeled the economic outlook "highly uncertain."
Another factor on Thursday was a Labor Department report showing that another 860,000 workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, per the AP. Meanwhile, Congress remains at impasse in approving new benefits. “Fundamentally, the economy is still moving in the right direction, but the risk of potentially jeopardizing the recovery from reduced fiscal support is becoming uncomfortably high,” wrote Piper Sandler strategist Craig Johnson. (More stock market stories.)