Stock Market News For Mar 21, 2025

Market News

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday as economic data showed a slowing labor market. The Nasdaq Composite, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in negative territory.

How Did the Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.03%, or 11.31 points, to close at 41,953.32. Seventeen components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory, while 13 ended in positive. The major loser of the Dow was International Business Machines Corporation IBM. The stock price of this integrated solutions and services provider fell 3.6%. International Business Machines Corporation currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 59.16 points, or 0.3%, to close at 17,691.63.

The S&P 500 lost 12.40 points, or 0.2%, to close at 5,662.89. Ten of the 11 broad sectors of the benchmark index closed in the green. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK), the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) fell 0.7%, 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 0.5% to 19.80. A total of 13.06 billion shares were traded on Thursday, lower than the last 20-session average of 16.28 billion. The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and no new lows. The Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 102 new lows.

Jobless Claims Rise Slightly, Labor Market Shows Signs of Cooling

Initial jobless claims increased slightly from the previous week, but overall, the labor market remains steady amid economic uncertainty. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims increased by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ended March 20 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 220,000 to 221,000. The 4-week moving average was 227,000, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 226,000 to 226,250. There are still low levels of layoffs, but more people are staying on jobless rolls for longer than they were at the same time last year, suggesting a cooling of the labor market.

Continuing claims were 1,892,000, an increase of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,859,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,875,750, reflecting an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,869,500.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged at 4.25-4.50% but indicated that it might lower rates later this year. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that labor market conditions are still neutral as layoffs remain limited and hiring is slowing down. On the other hand, business expansion has been hampered by trade policy uncertainties and relatively high interest rates.

Existing Home Sales Surge in February

In other economic data released on Thursday, the National Realtors Association said that existing home sales rose 4.2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million units, surpassing economists’ expectations of 3.95 million units.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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