Stock market news live updates: Wall Street struggles to rebound from tech rout; TikTok battle wages on

volatile session that saw big tech stocks sell off sharply once again — which dragged down Wall Street in spite of encouraging developments in the economy.

AMZN), Facebook (FB) and Apple (AAPL), which led the Nasdaq to its worst day in about a week. Price action reflected how investors, who have bid up stocks relentlessly since late spring, are now rethinking prospects for a sharp economic rebound in the wake of a still raging COVID-19 pandemic and no immediate fiscal boost on the table.

860,000 workers filed unemployment claims in the latest period, but that figure remained below 1 million for a third straight week. In a partly encouraging sign, continuing claims — a closely watched metric of the labor market’s health in real time — fell below 13 million. However, new housing starts fell sharply last month, new data showed, a worrying harbinger that a hot housing market could be cooling despite record low interest rates.

On Wednesday, the Fed signaled that near-zero interest rates would remain for at least the next three years, as the US economy continues to face risks around the ongoing pandemic. The Federal Open Market Committee’s newly issued expectation for interest rates to remain near zero until at least the end of 2023.

Economic data has remained surprisingly buoyant in the face of widespread uncertainty stemming from the viral outbreak — the latest of which was September consumer confidence. However, Fed officials suggest that the quicker-than-expected early economic recovery could be jeopardized by the absence of more fiscal support.

“With U.S. interest rates locked at record lows for years into the future and the Fed holding back on incremental QE measures, the recovery path from here will depend on vaccine progress, virus dynamics, fiscal support, and presidential election politics,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.

“Our base case is continued reopening momentum, widespread vaccine availability by 2Q21, and an eventual compromise deal on US fiscal stimulus. The U.S. presidential contest may kick up some near-term volatility before its eventual resolution,” he added.

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Here were the main moves in markets as of 12:05.m. ET:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,340.42, -16.59 (-0.49%)

• Dow (^DJI): 27,866.02, -35.96 (-0.13%)

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): 10,834.54, -75.73 (-0.69%)

• Crude (CL=F): $41.17 per barrel, +0.20 (+0.49%)

• Gold (GC=F): $1,959.50, +$9.60 (+0.49%)

• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): flat to yield 0.67200%

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ORCL) stock is virtually unchanged on the day near $60, as White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany tells reporters that the Trump administration is still working toward a resolution of the standoff with Chinese-owned TikTok, even as it prepares to block downloads of the service on Sunday.

FB) to take up TikTok’s fight against the president’s decision, in the interest of solidarity:

We agree that this type of ban would be bad for the industry. We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law.

— Vanessa Pappas (@v_ness) September 18, 2020

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Despite the gloomier outlook for September — and still no sign of a new stimulus package — the University of Michigan’s preliminary read on consumer confidence showed that sentiment jumped to 78.9 vs. 74.1 in the prior month. Current economic conditions index rose to 87.5 vs. 82.9 last month, and expectations also gained, to 73.3 vs. 68.5 last month; the highest since March.

According to Capital Economics’ Michael Pearce:

The solid gain in confidence is…slightly at odds with many of the typical drivers of consumer confidence, with stock prices falling and gasoline prices stable so far this month, and we were still braced for some delayed impact from the expiry of additional federal unemployment benefits at the end of July, which we think reduced household incomes by close to 5%. In the event, the rise in consumer confidence could simply reflect a continued improvement in labour market conditions at the beginning of this month.

Story continues

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Here were the main moves in markets as of 9:30 a.m. ET:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,360.53, +3.52 (+0.10%)

• Dow (^DJI): 27,892.00, -9.98 (-0.04%)

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): 10,943.29, +33.01 (+0.30%)

• Crude (CL=F): $41.03 per barrel, +0.06 (+0.15%)

• Gold (GC=F): $1,956.70, +6.80 (+0.35%)

• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): flat to yield 0.67200%

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Here were the main moves in equity markets, as of 8:25 a.m. ET Friday:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,362.25, +0.75 (+0.02%)

• Dow futures (YM=F): 27,895.00, -43.00 (-0.15%)

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 11,130.50, +40.50 (+0.37%)

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will ban downloads of the viral video app, along with messaging service WeChat, on Sunday. If carried out, the apps will be blocked from mobile app stores, and makes good on a threat to block the Chinese-owned services based on national security grounds. It also suggests Oracle’s (ORCL) bid to partner with TikTok was insufficient to pass muster with China hawks in the administration.

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6:30 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures open near the unchanged mark

Here were the main moves in equity markets, as of 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3350.00, flat

• Dow futures (YM=F): 27817, flat

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 11075.00, flat

More

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