The huge rally for US stocks lost momentum on Thursday as Wall Street counted down to a big jobs report that's coming on Friday.
- The Dow fell 248.33 points, or 0.6%, to 44,765.71.
- The S&P 500 fell 11.38 points, or 0.2%, to 6,075.11.
- The Nasdaq fell 34.86 points, or 0.2%, to 19,700.26.
Bitcoin had powered above $100,000 for the first time the night before, after President-elect Trump chose Paul Atkins, who's seen as a crypto advocate, as his nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The cryptocurrency has climbed dramatically from less than $70,000 on Election Day, but it fell back as Thursday progressed toward $99,000, according to CoinDesk. Sharp swings for bitcoin are nothing new, the AP reports, and they took stocks of companies enmeshed in the crypto world on a similar ride. After rising as much as 9% in early trading, MicroStrategy, a company that's been raising cash just to buy bitcoin, swung to a loss of 4.8%. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global fell 3.1% after likewise erasing a big early gain.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, stocks of airlines helped lead the way following the latest bumps up to financial forecasts from carriers. American Airlines Group soared 16.8% after saying it's making more in revenue during the last three months of 2024 than it expected, and it will likely make a bigger profit than it had earlier forecast. Southwest Airlines climbed 2% after saying it's seeing stronger demand from leisure travelers than it expected. It also raised its forecast for revenue for the holiday traveling season. On the losing end was Synposys, which tumbled 12.4%. The supplier for the semiconductor industry reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it also warned of "continued macro uncertainties" and gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that fell short of some analysts' estimates. American Eagle Outfitters fell 14.3%.
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