US Stocks Close Lower, Market Volatility Increases

US stocks closed lower on Thursday following the release of recent labor market data.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims coming in lower-than-expected during the recent week, indicating a tight labor market.

The Procter & Gamble Company PG shares dropped 2.1% on Thursday after the company reported Q2 earnings results. Shares of Netflix Inc NFLX jumped over 7% in after-hours trading after the company added 7.7 million paid subscribers during the quarter, which was well ahead of company expectations of 4.5 million.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with industrials and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest drop on Thursday. However, energy and communication services stocks bucked the overall market trend, recording gains during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 1% to close at 11,295.67 on Thursday, amid decline in shares of Tesla Inc TSLA and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

The S&P 500 fell 0.76%, while the Dow Jones lost 0.76% to 33,044.56 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.9% to 20.52 points on Thursday.
What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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