Stocks open lower on ThursdayJobless claims higher than expected; Philadelphia factory output weakens<\/p>\n
Jobseekers during a Hospitality House career fair in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. <\/p>\n
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Initial unemployment benefit filings saw a bump last week though layoffs still appear to be limited, according to a Labor Department report Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jobless claims<\/a> totaled 235,000 for the week ending Aug. 16, up 11,000 from the prior period and higher than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 225,000. It was the highest level since June 21 though still within the range of the past few years.<\/p>\n Continuing claims, which run a week behind, rose to 1.97 million, an increase of 30,000 and the highest level since Nov. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n In other economic news Thursday, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index<\/a> for August posted an unexpectedly weak reading of -0.3, down from 15.9 the prior month and below the estimate for 7.0. The new orders index slid to -1.9 while the prices paid index hit its highest level since May 2022. The index measures companies reporting growth against contraction.<\/p>\n \u2014Jeff Cox<\/p>\n Stocks making the biggest moves premarket<\/p>\n Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.<\/p>\n Read the full list here<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u2014 Brian Evans<\/p>\n Trump says U.S. will not approve solar or wind power projects<\/p>\n Mint Images | Mint Images Rf | Getty Images<\/p>\n President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will not approve solar or wind power projects, even as electricity demand is outpacing the supply in some parts of the U.S. His comments will likely heighten concerns of renewable companies, which fear that projects will no longer receive permits that were once normal course of business.<\/p>\n “We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar,” Trump, who has complained in the past that solar takes up too much land,\u00a0posted on Truth Social<\/a>. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!”<\/p>\n The president’s comment comes after the administration\u00a0tightened federal permitting<\/a>\u00a0for renewables last month. The permitting process is now centralized in Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office.<\/p>\n Trump blamed renewables for rising electricity prices in the U.S. Prices have risen on the nation’s largest grid, PJM Interconnection, as rapidly growing demand from data centers and other industries faces a tight power supply as resources such as coal plants are retired. More here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Pia Singh, Spencer Kimball<\/p>\n U.S., EU spell out tariffs for autos, pharmaceuticals<\/p>\n The U.S. and European Union revealed more details<\/a> about the trade framework agreed upon last month. <\/p>\n The U.S. will commit to applying “the higher of either the U.S. Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rate or a tariff rate of 15 percent, comprised of the MFN tariff and a reciprocal tariff, on originating goods of the European Union.”<\/p>\n The U.S. will apply only MFN duties on several EU goods, including “unavailable natural resources (including cork), all aircraft and aircraft parts, generic pharmaceuticals and their ingredients and chemical precursors.”<\/p>\n Several Section 232 tariffs have been capped at the wider 15% tariff rate,<\/strong>\u00a0including those on lumber, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, according to a senior U.S. administration official.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Sophie Kiderlin, Sam Meredith, Karen Gilchrist<\/p>\n Australia stocks rise over 1%, crossing 9,000 threshold for the first time<\/p>\n Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose, with Australian stocks among the top gainers, breaking ranks with key Wall Street peers that saw declines led by tech stocks.<\/p>\n Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a>\u00a0benchmark rose 1.13% to end the day at a record high of 9,019. Gains were led by food company OMG Group, which surged 114.29%, printing and technology firm 333D, which jumped 55.56% and battery technology manufacturer Janus Electric Holdings, which rose 46.47%.<\/p>\n Over in India, the HSBC Composite flash purchasing managers’ index, which provides an early snapshot of the performance of the private sector economy, came in at 65.2, higher than July’s 61.1 and the 60.5 forecast by Reuters.<\/p>\n Indian markets rose in early trade with the benchmark Nifty 50 trading 0.21% higher, while the BSE Sensex index was up 0.35% as of 1:30 p.m. Indian Standard time (4 a.m. ET).<\/p>\n Japan’s\u00a0Nikkei 225<\/a>\u00a0fell for the third straight session and ended the day 0.65% lower at 42,610.17. Losses were led by Daiichi Sankyo<\/a>, Socionext<\/a> and Lasertec Corp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the broader Topix index dropped 0.52% to 3,082.95.<\/p>\n Yields on Japan’s 20-year government bonds rose to 2.645%, after hitting a 26-year high earlier in the session. Yields on the 10-year government bonds ticked up to a 17-year high of 1.61%.<\/p>\n In South Korea, the\u00a0Kospi<\/a>\u00a0index pared earlier gains to rise 0.37% at 3,141.74, while the small-cap Kosdaq was flat at 777.24.<\/p>\n Mainland China’s\u00a0CSI 300<\/a>\u00a0increased by 0.39% to 4,28807, while Hong Kong’s\u00a0Hang Seng Index<\/a> was down 0.2% to 25,116.51.<\/p>\n \u2014 Amala Balakrishner<\/p>\n The 8 most valuable U.S. stocks all fell Wednesday. The next 7 all rose<\/p>\n A sign is posted in front of a Broadcom office in San Jose, California,\u00a0on Dec. 12, 2024.<\/p>\n Justin Sullivan | Getty Images<\/p>\n The farther down the S&P 500 one looked Wednesday, the more green on the screen.<\/p>\n All eight of the largest companies in the S&P 500 \u2014 consisting of the Mag Seven<\/a> plus Broadcom<\/a>, which are also the only eight that have a market value above $1 trillion \u2014 fell on Wednesday. The declines ranged from just 0.14% for Nvidia<\/a>, the most valuable stock in the U.S., worth some $4.3 trillion, up to 1.97% for Apple<\/a>, the third most highly-valued stock, after Microsoft<\/a> (-0.79%).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the next seven stocks with the highest market caps, all rose in price Wednesday. They were led by Walmart<\/a>, with a market cap of $819 billion, ahead 1.26%. Oracle<\/a> gained 0.19%, bringing the company’s market cap to $660 billion. The smallest stock in that second cohort of advancers was Mastercard, worth $536 billion, which rose 1.22%.<\/p>\n \u2014 Scott Schnipper<\/p>\n Fed Governor Lisa Cook says she won\u2019t be \u2018bullied\u2019 into resigning from her post<\/p>\n Lisa Cook testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on her nomination to be a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (for a second term), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jonathan Ernst | Reuters<\/p>\n Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said on Wednesday that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet.”<\/p>\n Cook’s comments come after Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said she should resign or be fired over what he claimed was evidence of “mortgage fraud.”<\/p>\n “To be honest, I think she needs to resign quickly,” Pulte said of Cook on CNBC’s “Money Movers.” “I think she will have to resign, or I think she will be fired.”<\/p>\n Responding to Pulte’s unsubstantiated accusation, President Donald Trump also said in a Truth Social post that Cook “must resign, now!!!”<\/p>\n\n
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