May 28, 2020 / Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff
TOPLINE
The stock market cut gains and turned negative on Thursday, despite optimism about reopening the economy, after President Trump announced that he will give a news conference regarding China on Friday.
KEY FACTS
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, around 150 points, on Thursday, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.5%.
- Stocks cut their gains late in the day, with the Dow shedding more than 200 points, after President Trump announced he would be giving a news conference regarding China on Friday.
- Trump’s administration is widely expected to ramp up pressure on China in response to a newly passed national security bill for Hong Kong, which means the region will no longer be politically autonomous from China.
- The Labor Department reported on Thursday, that another 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 23, bringing the ten-week total to more than 40 million job losses.
