Stock market today: Stocks slide after Fedspeak as oil surges, March jobs report on deck | 4/4/24 - Video

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Stocks slumped on Thursday as oil hit its highest price in six months and a key Federal Reserve official floated a warning that interest rate cuts might not come in 2024.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell almost 1.4%, or 550 points while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped 1.4%.

All three major averages reversed strong midday gains after Minnesota Fed President Neel Kashkari suggested the Fed may not cut interest rates at all this year if inflation progress stalls. The positive market action also paused amid a spike in oil prices.

Oil futures spiked more than 1% amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) settled at $86.59 per barrel while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark price, closed at $90.65 per barrel, their highest level since October.

Prior to Kashkari's comments, the market had shaken off a rough start to the second quarter after Chair Jerome Powell soothed concerns the Federal Reserve would lose its nerve for making rate cuts.

All eyes are now set to turn to the March jobs report, due out Friday morning, will be a key economic input for the Fed's data-dependent policy decision-making. By and large, experts don't expect to see any sign of cracks in the strong US labor market story. Department of Labor data released on Thursday showed initial jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 221,000 last week, their highest level since January.

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