US stocks fall after jump in jobless claims and weak corporate earnings results

Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

• US stocks fell on Thursday after weak corporate earnings results and a rise in weekly jobless claims.

• Tesla reported earnings results that disappointed investors as its gross margin fell below 20%.

• A negative reading from the Philadelphia Fed Factory Index was the 8th consecutive monthly drop.

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US stocks fell on Thursday as investors digested weak corporate earnings results and data showing a deterioration in some parts of the economy.

Tesla reported earnings results that disappointed investors, with the stock falling nearly 9%. The company said its gross margin fell to below 20% as it implemented a number of price cuts for its vehicles during the quarter. AT&T also reported earnings results that fell flat with investors, sending the stock down 5%.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims jumped 5,000 to 245,000, slightly ahead of economist estimates of about 240,000. And the Philadelphia Fed Factory index reported another contraction in April, representing the eighth consecutive monthly reading of declines in manufacturing activity.

Investors now will turn their attention to next week's release of first-quarter earnings results from mega-cap tech companies including Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet, among others.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET opening bell on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,128.05, down 0.64%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,754.46, down 0.42% (142.55 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 12,066.39, down 0.75% 

Here's what else is happening this morning:

• Elon Musk expects the US economy to struggle for the next year — and a toxic cocktail of higher interest rates, rising unemployment fears, and banks pulling back on lending to dent demand for Tesla vehicles.

• The US economy is barreling toward a "student loan cliff" as borrowers may owe $18 billion in monthly repayments once President Joe Biden's pause on higher-education loan payments ends later this year, according to Jefferies.

• Investor pessimism toward Canada-based lender Toronto-Dominion just hit a new high. Bearish stock bets against TD – the most shorted bank in the world – surged to $6.1 million on Wednesday, marking a 45% increase from two weeks earlier.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2.22% to $77.48 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 2.18% to $81.31.

• Gold rose 0.38% to $2,015.60 per ounce.

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell five basis points to 3.54%.

• Bitcoin fell 0.31% to $28,776, while ether jumped 0.83% to $1,966.

Read the original article on Business Insider