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August 4, 2023Last Updated: Aug. 3, 2023 at 12:19 p.m. ETFirst Published: Aug. 3, 2023 at 5:50 a.m. ET
By Joseph Adinolfi Follow and Steve Goldstein Follow comments 2
Rising oil prices helped boost energy stocks
The Nasdaq turned positive Thursday in the wake of the U.S. debt downgrade by FITCH
The Nasdaq Composite turned positive, while U.S. stocks pared early losses on Thursday following a promising report on U.S. workers’ productivity that bolstered expectations for slowing inflation.
What’s happening
- Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIAfell 15 points, or less than 0.1%, to 35,267.
- S&P 500 SPXdropped 7 points, or 0.2%, to 4,505.
- Nasdaq Composite COMPwas up 5 points, or virtually flat, at 13,978.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348 points, or 0.98%, to 35,283 as stocks saw their biggest daily pullback in months.
What’s driving markets
After a rocky start to trading on Thursday, U.S. stocks pared or reversed early losses around midday in New York following a stronger-than-expected reading on U.S. workers’ productivity.
Official government data showed productivity grew at an annualized pace of 3.7%, which boosted hopes that wage growth might slow, putting more downward pressure on inflation.
“The fact that productivity came in stronger than expected — from the inflation perspective, that’s pretty good news,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, during a phone interview with MarketWatch.
The broader market also got a boost from rising energy stocks and bank stocks. Energy stocks benefited from rising oil prices after Saudi Arabia announced it would extend an oil production cut through September.
