Dow sinks as Microsoft, Apple fall while gold hits record

U.S. equity markets tumbled on Thursday after a spike in initial jobless claims snapped a 15-week streak of declines and after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a payroll tax cut will not be included in the next stimulus round.

Big-tech led the selling with the Nasdaq Composite falling 2.3 percent as Amazon and Facebook were among the biggest decliners.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	18972.420086	+6.28	+0.03%
AMZN	AMAZON.COM INC.	198.38	-4.50	-2.22%
FB	NO DATA AVAILABLE	-	-	-

Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 353 points, or 1.3 percent, and the S&P 500 slid 1.23 percent. Apple and Boeing loses weighed on the broader market.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	43870.35	+461.88	+1.06%
SP500	S&P 500	5948.71	+31.60	+0.53%
AAPL	APPLE INC.	228.52	-0.48	-0.21%
BA	THE BOEING CO.	143.41	-2.67	-1.83%

As investors sold stocks, the price of gold rallied to a record-high $1,889.10 an ounce while silver fell 13.8 cents to $22.945 an ounce.

GOLD PRICES ZOOM INTO RECORD BOOKS

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
GLD	SPDR GOLD SHARES TRUST - USD ACC	246.66	+2.04	+0.83%

Initial jobless claims for the week ended July 18 rose by 1.416 million, raising the total number of first-time filings to more than 52 million since COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were issued in mid-March. Continuing claims, meanwhile, fell by 1.1 million to 16.197 million.

Looking at stocks, Tesla Inc. booked its fourth straight quarterly profit, paving the way for the electric-car maker’s possible entry into the S&P 500. The quarterly results were aided by the company paying half its $700,000-a-month New York rent and deferring payment for other showrooms, sources told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
TSLA	TESLA INC.	339.64	-2.39	-0.70%
MSFT	MICROSOFT CORP.	412.87	-2.62	-0.63%
TWTR	NO DATA AVAILABLE	-	-	-

Microsoft Corp. shares slid as revenue growth from its Azure cloud platform slowed to 47 percent from 59 percent and its revenue forecast fell short of Wall Street estimates. The company’s top- and bottom-line results both outpaced estimates.

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Twitter Inc. missed on the top and bottom lines, but reported monetizable daily users grew 34 percent year-over-year, the most on record.

American Airlines Group Inc. reported a quarterly loss of $2.1 billion and Southwest Airlines Co. said it lost $915 million. Elsewhere in the industry, United Airlines Holdings Inc. sees revenue holding at 50 percent below pre-pandemic levels until there is a COVID-19 vaccine.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AAL	AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC.	14.20	-0.26	-1.80%
LUV	SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.	31.79	+0.02	+0.06%

Gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. said revenue cratered 97 percent as locations in Las Vegas and Macao were forced to close their doors for the majority of the quarter to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue and said digital sales soared 216 percent from a year ago, but also reported same-store sales fell 9.8 percent year-over-year.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
LVS	LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP.	50.07	+0.16	+0.32%
CMG	CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC.	59.98	+1.10	+1.87%

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped nearly 2 percent to $41.07 a barrel.

U.S. Treasurys ticked higher, causing the yield on the 10-year note to fall to 0.582 percent. The third lowest level of the year.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE rose 0.07 percent, while Germany’s DAX and France's CAC slipped 0.01 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.

Asian markets finished mixed as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.82 percent while Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.58 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.24 percent.