By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling on Thursday as investors continued to be wary about bank stocks and as new economic data clouded the picture on interest rates.
At 9:52 ET (13:52 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 228 points or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq was down 0.1%.
First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) shares tumbled 29% on fears of a widening bank crisis. Bloomberg reported the company is exploring a sale after last weekend’s collapse of SVB Financial’s Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the pressure on Credit Suisse on Wednesday.
Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) shares were up 3% after it said it got a credit line up to $54 billion from the Swiss National Bank, helping to bolster liquidity.
The European Central Bank raised rates by a half percentage point, though the Federal Reserve is not expected to follow suit next week. Most futures traders are factoring in a quarter of a percentage point rate increase from the Fed after its meeting.
Complicating efforts to forecast the Fed’s next move, initial jobless claims fell to 192,000 and were lower than the expected 205,000. They were also down from the prior week, an indication of a still-tight labor market despite signs inflation is easing somewhat.
The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index, a key measure of U.S. manufacturing activity, was below expectations in March, but improved marginally compared to the prior month.
American social media companies were rising on word the Biden administration may try to ban TikTok in the U.S. if the China-based parent of the short-video platform doesn’t divest itself. Shares of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) rose 0.2% as did Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP), up 7.5%.
Oil continued to slide. Crude Oil WTI Futures were down 1% to $66.88 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude was down 0.8% to $73.06 a barrel. Gold Futures were flat at $1931.