Wall Street Close: Benchmarks wilted into month-end

• US stocks fell in the last day of the month with the S&P 500 losing 0.9% to 2,912.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped  1.2%, to 24,346,
• The Nasdaq Composite was also lower by 0.3% to 8,890.

US benchmarks were modestly lower on Thursday, but their month-end business woes were not woeful enough to dent their double-digit percentage gains for this month. Markets remain optimistic with the curve peaking and prospects of businesses attempting to, slowly, get back to work. However, mixed session and corporate earnings resulted in a top for the benchmarks on the last day of trade

Consequently, the S&P 500 lost 0.9% to 2,912 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 288 points, or 1.2%, to 24,346, based on preliminary numbers. The Nasdaq Composite was also lower by 0.3% to 8,890. For the month, the S&P added 10.9%, the Dow put on 11.1%, and the Nasdaq gained 15.5%.

US data was shocking, again

As for data, we had more bad news and this time from out of the Chicago PMIs which dropped like a stone to 35.4 in April, down from 47.8pts the previous month. As for jobs, we got another 3.8 million Americans applying for their unemployment benefits in the week to April 25. However, that's a far cry from the abysmal  6.9 million five weeks ago. In just six weeks, over 30 million people have become jobless in the US. More bad data came in the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index falling 0.3% MoM which now leaves the headline rate at 1.3% YoY, down from 1.8%.

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