Wall Street’s main indices fell on Thursday after the weekly jobless claims report, which showed more than expected claims, indicated that the US Federal Reserve’s policy of rapidly raising interest rates is slowing economic growth.
The Dow Jones fell 61.76 points, or 0.18%, at the open, to 33,420.96 points. Standard & Poor’s fell 0.23% to 4,081.15 points. The Nasdaq fell 0.48% to 11,939.08 points.
US stocks will be off Friday, on the occasion of Good Friday.
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, but the picture in the labor market is cloudy after revisions to previous data after the government updated the criteria it uses to measure seasonal fluctuations.
The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims fell by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 228,000 in the week ending April 1.
The previous week’s data was revised to show more than 48,000 orders than previously announced.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected 200,000 applications in the last week.
