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Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq edged down 20.71 points or 0.1 percent to 16,286.45, the S&P 500 (SPI:SP500) inched up 7.00 points or 0.1 percent to 5,282.70.

The narrower Dow showed a more significant move to the downside, tumbling 527.16 points or 1.3 percent to 39,142.23.

For the holiday-shortened week, the S&P 500 slumped by 1.5 percent, while the Nasdaq and the Dow plunged by 2.6 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

The steep drop by the Dow on the day largely reflected a nosedive by shares of UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), with the healthcare giant plummeting by 22.4 percent.

UnitedHealth tumbled to its lowest closing level in a year after the company reported weaker than expected first quarter earnings and cut its full-year profit forecast.

The lack of direction shown by the broader markets came amid lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s tariffs despite his upbeat comments about trade talks.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that “big progress” had been made in a meeting with the Japanese trade delegation.

“Had a very productive call with the President of Mexico yesterday,” he added in a post this morning. “Likewise, I met with the highest level Japanese Trade Representatives. It was a very productive meeting. Every Nation, including China, wants to meet! Today, Italy!”

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended April 12th.

The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 215,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 224,000.

Economists had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 225,000 from the 223,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new residential construction in the U.S. pulled back by much more than expected in the month of March.

Despite the lack of direction shown by the broader markets, pharmaceutical stocks moved sharply higher, resulting in a 3.8 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.

Eli Lilly (LLY) helped lead the sector higher, soaring by 14.3 percent after reporting positive results from a phase-three trial of a pill to treat weight loss and diabetes.

A continued surge by the price of crude oil also contributed to substantial strength among energy stocks, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumping by 3.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

Transportation, telecom and housing stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while gold stocks moved lower along with the price of the precious metal.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged by 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index ended the day nearly unchanged, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after trending higher over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.4 basis points to 4.333 percent.

Following the long Easter weekend, earnings news is likely to attract attention next week, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Boeing (BA), IBM Corp. (IBM), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on durable goods orders and new and existing home sales, although any developments on the trade front are likely to remain in the spotlight.

SOURCE: RTTNEWS

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