US Stocks tumble on profit taking

The US stock market finished session steep lower on Thursday, 03 September 2020, as investors opted to cash in recent profit following a streak of record-setting days over the past several weeks and amid uncertainty over the timing of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Investors largely ignored lower-than-expected weekly jobless-claims reading.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index tumbled 807.77 points, or 2.78%, to 28,292.73. The S&P 500 index retreated 125.78 points, or 3.51%, to 3,455.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 598.34 points, or 4.96%, to 11,458.10.

Market pulled back hard from unprecedented highs as investors question the justification for steep valuations as the pandemic rages on. The selling accelerated after Dr. Anthony Fauci dashed hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine was coming soon, contradicting documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fauci told CNN a vaccine was unlikely to be ready by the end of October. His comments coincided with positive news on the economy after the U.S. labor market continues to show signs of incremental improvement.

All sectors declined, with high-flying tech stocks, retail stocks Co. were among the biggest decliners on profit taking. Meanwhile, housing, chemical, biotechnology and gold stocks were also seeing notable weakness amid broad-based selling pressure on Wall Street.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Claims for unemployment insurance sank to an unadjusted 881,000 in the week that ended Saturday, according to the Labor Department. Continuing claims, which track Americans receiving unemployment benefits, totaled 13.3 million for the week that ended August 22, falling from the prior week's revised figure

A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management's gauge of the US services industry showed recovery slowing in August. The index fell to 56.9 last month from 58.1, with a drop in new orders fueling most of the decline.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS declined 4.06% to $10.41, Vedanta fell 2.97% to $6.86, Tata Motors shed 1.19% to $9.98, HDFC Bank dropped 1.68% to $50.89, and Dr Reddys Labs shed 0.12% to $59.58. Azure Power Global fell 0.97% to $23.55, WNS Holdings shed 4.2% to $65.19, ICICI Bank was down 4.06% to $10.41, and Wipro dropped 0.69% to $4.30.

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