Stocks Pause As Traders Await Jobs Data, Nvidia Falls On Antitrust Investigation, Crude Rises To $75: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

Wall Street experienced a relatively quiet day on Thursday, with major indices trading within tight ranges as investors remain cautious ahead of the highly anticipated May jobs report, set for release Friday.

After driving the broader stock market to record highs on Wednesday, chipmakers saw a slight pullback. Nvidia Corp. NVDA dipped 3% as of 1 p.m. in New York.

In regulatory news, the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have agreed to proceed with antitrust investigations into the dominant roles of Microsoft Corp. MSFT, OpenAI and Nvidia in the artificial intelligence industry, as reported by Reuters.

On the macroeconomic front, initial jobless claims rose more than expected last week, and first-quarter labor costs were revised lower. These developments bolstered market expectations that the Federal Reserve might begin cutting rates in the third quarter.

The European Central Bank announced a 0.25% rate cut, as widely anticipated, but emphasized the need for a data-dependent approach, proceeding meeting by meeting.

Commodities strengthened, supported by the prospect of further rate cuts by central banks. West Texas Intermediate light crude climbed 1.6% to $75 a barrel, following a 1.9% rally on Wednesday.

Gold, tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust SPY, rose 0.7%, while silver surged nearly 4%. Bitcoin BTC/USD fell slightly by 0.4%, potentially ending a five-day winning streak.

Thursday’s Performance On Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.2% lower to $533.76.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA was flat at $388.77.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (ARCA: QQQ) was flat at $463.30.
• Sector-wise, the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund XLP outperformed, up by 0.5%, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU lagged, down 1%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Illumina Inc. ILMN rose over 7%, marking the best performance within S&P 500 index.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU rallied nearly 7%, in reaction to the company’s better-than-expected quarterly results.
• Other stocks reacting to company results were: Smartsheet Inc. SMAR, up 16%, The J.M. Smucker Company SJM, up 5.3%, The Toro Company TTC, up 13%, Ciena Corp. CIEN, up 1.3%, Five Below Inc. FIVEl, down 12%, and Sprinklr Inc. CXM, down 15%.
• Vistra Corp. VST fell over 8%, eyeing the largest one-day drop in more than two years.
• GameStop Corp. GME rallied by 20% after rising 19% on Wednesday.
• Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD rose 7%, after the company agreed to buy cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for around all-cash deal worth $200 million.

Read now: Is Robinhood’s Crypto Exchange Deal Really ‘Massive’ And The ‘First Domino To Fall?’

Illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.