A minute after trading took off on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq index has fallen 2.0 percent and stands at 15,391.88 points, while the Dow Jones falls 1.3 percent to 37,969.25 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent to 5,006.26 points.
The ten-year US government bond yield rises to 4.73 percent while the VIX index, also called the fear index, rises 6.5 percent to 17.01.
Updated at 18:10
Parts of the decline have abated. The Nasdaq is down 1.4 percent, while the Dow Jones is down 1.4 percent. The S&P 500 is down 1 percent.
Macro
The US gross domestic product grew by 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to the first estimates for the US economy in January-March. In advance, it was expected that the GDP figures would show a growth of 2.5 per cent, according to Trading Economics.
207,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits for the first time in the week up to and including April 20, new jobless claims figures from the US Department of Labor show. This amounts to a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week. In advance, a number of 214,000 was expected, according to Trading Economics.
The number of Americans who continue to receive unemployment benefits – continuing claims – was 1,781,000 per April 13. In advance, a reading of 1,814,000 was expected here.
Meta Platforms
On Wednesday evening, Meta Platforms presented its quarterly figures, at the same time as the management came up with a weak guidance for the second quarter. The IT giant expects revenues in the second quarter between 36.5 billion and 39 billion dollars.
The midpoint, at $37.75 billion, would represent 18 percent year-over-year growth, and is below analysts’ average estimate of $38.3 billion, according to CNBC. On Thursday, the share plunged 15.3 per cent in the opening minutes.
At 18:10, some of the decline has been recovered, and the share is down just over 12 per cent.
