The Dow and S&P 500 saw risk-off sentiment dominate after the Supreme Court ruled to allow a New York grand jury to have access to President Trump's tax returns and other financial records, although the high court blocked Congress' access to those records. The Nasdaq continues to be the outperformer among the major averages amid expectations that tech firm profits are more immune to the pandemic. Mounting evidence that the pick-up in virus cases has slowed the recovery in the U.S. continues to raise questions about lofty valuations on Wall Street with the Nasdaq trading near record levels.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, initial jobless claims dropped 99,000 to 1.31M in the week ended July 4, which was close to the consensus forecast and represented a fourteenth straight week of decline. Wholesale inventories dropped 1.2% in May and sales bounced 5.4%.
In COVID-19 news, Florida reported 232,718 virus cases in the state, up from 223,783 yesterday, while Arizona reported 112,671 virus cases, up 4,057 from the previous day.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) were 7.8% lower after a mixed earnings report, with revenue that topped expectations and earnings that missed, along with news that the company is suspending share buybacks and cut over 4,000 jobs, or 7% of its workforce.
Meanwhile, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares fell 24.5% after the company reported worse than forecast losses in the first fiscal quarter and announced plans to close 200 stores over the next two years.
Shares of Mohawk Industries (MHK) were under pressure for a second day in a row on Thursday after analysts brought added attention to a shareholder lawsuit that recently added new court filings that allege fraud at the company. Shailesh Bettadapur, a treasurer at Mohawk Industries, told Bloomberg, "As a rule, we do not comment on pending litigation, and don't have a comment now." Shares of Mohawk closed 20% lower.
Boeing (BA) shares fell 3.7% after Bloomberg reported that the FAA has begun a formal investigation into allegations that the planemaker placed "undue pressure" on employees designated as inspectors to assess aircraft designs on behalf of the government . In addition, Emirates COO Adel Al Redha told Bloomberg that Boeing's new 777X jet is likely to miss its planned debut next year.
Additionally, Sony (SNE) announced a $250M strategic investment in Epic Games, which owns "Fortnite," the Epic Store, and Houseparty. Other investors in Epic include Tencent (TCEHY), Disney (DIS), and KKR (KKR).
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Veritone (VERI), which rose 25.3% after it raised its Q2 revenue guidance. Also higher was MicroChip (MCHP), which gained 3.4% after its CEO Steve Sanghi detailed growth in no lead time orders.
Among the notable losers was Plug Power (PLUG), which slid 5.8% after Barclays analyst Moses Sutton downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. Also lower was HealthEquity (HQY), which fell 5.3% after its 4.6M share secondary offering priced at $56.00 per share.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 361.19, or 1.39%, to 25,706.09, the Nasdaq gained 55.25, or 0.53%, to 10,547.75, and the S&P 500 declined 17.89, or 0.56%, to 3,152.05.
Walgreens Boots Alliance
-3.25 (-7.69%)
Bed Bath & Beyond
-2.54 (-24.42%)
Mohawk Industries
-18.25 (-19.98%)
Boeing
-6.79 (-3.77%)
Symbol now SONY
+1.67 (+2.39%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
Disney
+0.24 (+0.21%)
KKR
+0.86 (+2.54%)
Veritone
+3.11 (+25.68%)
Microchip
+3.61 (+3.47%)
HealthEquity
-3.11 (-5.26%)
Plug Power
-0.55 (-5.79%)