Wall St dragged by tech shares; Jackson Hole in focus

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks lost ground on Thursday, pulled lower by technology shares as luminaries from global central banks convened at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

All three major U.S. indexes extended losses in afternoon trading, moving in opposition to rising benchmark Treasury yields after economic data eased recession fears.

Weakness in the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap growth stocks weighed heaviest on the tech-laden Nasdaq.

"There really isn't a lot of news either on the macro or company side," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager of GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta. "Jobless claims were inline, existing home sales were inline. It could just be a bit of trading going on, people doing what they do to make the market go up or down."

Central bank officials from around the world have gathered in Jackson Hole for the annual Economic Symposium. Investors will be laser focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's address on Friday for clues on the timing and extent of the Fed's policy easing cycle.

"How can (Powell) set the stage for September without sounding definitive? He won't want to say anything different or give us anything new," Martin added.

News of increasing U.S. jobless claims, following Wednesday's sharply lower benchmark payrolls revision, appear to confirm the labor market is less robust than expected and is gradually softening. This soothed recession fears while bolstering the case for a 25 basis point rate cut at the Fed's upcoming September policy meeting.

That sentiment was echoed in remarks on Thursday from Kansas City Fed President Frank Schmid, Boston Fed President Susan Collins, and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, all of whom indicated that a rate-cutting phase is shortly forthcoming.

"What Fed officials are saying is a rate cut is definitely on the table, but there's still time between now and September and data can move things," Martin said.

As of 2:10 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 241.19 points, or 0.59%, to 40,649.3, the S&P 500 lost 50.48 points, or 0.90%, to 5,570.37 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 272.14 points, or 1.52%, to 17,646.84.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, technology suffered the largest percentage loss, falling 2.0%. Energy stocks led the gainers.

Among individual stocks, Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW ) raised its forecast for full-year product revenue. Even so, the data cloud analytics firm's shares slid 13.6% as its margin forecast remained unchanged.

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM ) jumped 11.8% after raising its annual revenue forecast.

Advanced Auto Parts tumbled 15.7% after trimming its annual profit forecast.



Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.22-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 53 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 78 new highs and 54 new lows.

Source: Investing.com