The S&P 500 ended marginally lower on Thursday after a report that an experimental antiviral drug for the coronavirus flopped in its first randomized clinical trial, denting earlier optimism that the impact of the pandemic on the labor market was nearing an end.
Yahaira Jacquez reports.
It was a choppy trading session on Wall Street Thursday with stocks mostly wiping out their gains from earlier in the day.
The Dow ended the day higher while the S&P and Nasdaq finished slightly lower.
Stocks lost steam after a report showed that a potential coronavirus treatment from Gilead flopped in its first randomized clinical trial.
The market's move after the report shows just how sensitive it is to news related to therapies, as investors look for any indication of when the economy will be back up and running.
Investors also focused on new weekly jobless claims, which came in at 4.4 million.
Huge by any measure but slightly lower than in previous weeks.
But Brett Sifling of Gerber Kawasaki says investors should brace for an uptick in claims. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERBER KAWASAKI INVESTMENT ADVISOR, BRETT SIFLING, SAYING: "While we're seeing jobless claims slow down in parts of the U.S. I expect it to start picking up again as we start counting for the gig economy workers and independent contractors who have been hurt from this.
I would expect to see it over the next couple weeks as soon as they're able to apply via the state's websites.
A lot of them have been down.
We've had a big mess not just with unemployment but also with the stimulus checks." Meanwhile - Las Vegas Sands jumped 12% after the casino operator predicted a speedy recovery in Asia on pent-up gambling demand.
But it was Gilead Sciences that stole the show on Wall Street.
Shares fell after the Financial Times released its report saying company's antiviral drug remdesivir failed to help patients with severe COVID-19.
The drugmaker disputed the results saying they were inconclusive because the trial was terminated early.
It still ended the day down more than 4 percent.
