US: Stocks fall despite strong economic data

[NEW YORK] - Tech shares led US equities lower Thursday as markets shrugged off a batch of strong economic data ahead of the official May jobs report.

Large tech names including Apple and Amazon dropped more than one per cent as the Nasdaq gave back some of the gains from the second part of May.

"The Nasdaq got ahead of itself, got sort of expensive and we are playing catch up," said Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors, adding that investors are shifting to industrial stocks.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1 per cent to finish at 34,577.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 per cent to close at 34,577.04, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent to 4,192.85.

The US private sector hired a whopping 978,000 people last month, payroll services firm ADP reported, a good sign ahead of Friday's Labor Department report - although the data can vary widely.

Also, new applications for US jobless benefits fell below 400,000 for the first time since the pandemic started, while a service sector index came in at an all-time high in May.

Among individual companies, General Motors jumped 6.4 per cent as it signaled that it expects its earnings through the middle of 2021 to be "significantly better" than it previously thought, thanks to more effective management of the semiconductor shortage.

Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment finished a topsy-turvy session down 17.9 per cent after raising US$587.4 million in a stock offering even after warning prospective shareholders they could potentially lose their entire investment.

AFP