Stocks finished down Thursday, with the three major U.S. indices posting losses.
One event that moved markets: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s participation Thursday in a Wall Street Journal event. Powell remarked that interest rates could remain low until certain inflation and employment goals are met. As he spoke, stocks fell, and Treasury yields rose.
New initial jobless claims for regular state programs the week ending Feb. 27 rose to 745,000. While jobless numbers remain elevated, they are still below the levels reached at the height of the pandemic-fueled unemployment crisis in spring 2020. Meanwhile, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate topped 3% for the first time since July.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 346, or 1.1%, to finish at 30,924.
BUZZ ETF launches. The VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF (ticker: BUZZ) launched Thursday amid, well, lots of buzz.
The ETF tracks an index of 75 large-cap U.S. stocks that benefit from positive investor sentiment on social media, news sites and other digital platforms. The launch was announced on Twitter with a meme-laden video starring Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, and an outspoken participant in January’s GameStop ( GME) trading frenzy.
BUZZ’s top holdings include DraftKings ( DKNG), Twitter ( TWTR), Ford Motor Co. ( F) and American Airlines Group ( AAL).
Square buys majority stake in Tidal. Shares of mobile payments app Square Inc. ( SQ) fell Thursday after the company announced it would buy a majority stake in rapper Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal.
“We’ll work on entirely new listening experiences to bring fans closer together, simple integrations for merch sales, modern collaboration tools and new complementary revenue streams,” Square CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted Thursday.
SQ will pay $297 million in cash and stock for its stake in Tidal, while Jay-Z will join Square’s board. Shares of Square ended down nearly 7% on the day.
Tesla continues slump. Electric vehicle company Tesla ( TSLA) continued its slide Thursday, ending the day down nearly 5%.
Baron Capital’s Ron Baron, a billionaire investor and Tesla bull, reported Thursday that since August he’d sold 1.8 million Tesla shares, as they dominated too large a percentage of some clients’ portfolios.
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Square Buys Stake in Tidal; BUZZ ETF Launches originally appeared on usnews.com
