Market Volatility Decreases Following Jobless Claims Data

US stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday as investors assessed recent economic reports.

Data showed US jobless claims dropped by 4,000 to 222,000 on the week ending November 12th, compared to market estimates of 225,000.

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO gained 5% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results. Macy's M shares gained 15% after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results and raised FY22 EPS guidance.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.19% to close at 11,676.86 on Thursday, amid losses in shares of Tesla, Inc. TSLA and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. The S&P 500 fell 0.31%, while the Dow Jones fell around 7 points to settle at 33,546.32 in the previous session.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a lower note, with utilities and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest plunge on Thursday. However, energy and information technology stocks traded slightly higher in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 0.2% to 24.07 points.

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.