Mortgage rates in the US rose for a third week, adding slightly to housing costs with the key spring sales season ahead.
The average for 30-year, fixed loans was 6.11%, up marginally from 6.1% last week, data from Freddie Mac showed Thursday.
Housing demand has remained sluggish even as rates dropped from nearly 7% a year ago. But the real test will come over the next couple of months as the market's busiest season begins. If all goes well, borrowing costs at or below 6% will lure in more buyers and sellers, helping to thaw the frozen market.
Rates are far more appealing than they were a year ago, said Jake Krimmel, senior economist with Realtor.com.
"They're way lower," Krimmel said. "That means we're going to see a lot more prospective homebuyers."
Volatility lashed Wall Street as a bout of heavy selling laid low software stocks and crypto before equity losses were trimmed. Weak jobs data and anxiety around the artificial-intelligence trade exacerbated concerns that have lopped about $1 trillion off Nasdaq 100 valuations in a week.
Following an earlier slide of 1.5% in the S&P 500, the gauge pared declines as chipmakers rose. The Nasdaq 100 was set for its worst three-day rout since April. The most-popular digital token sank below $70,000 in a plunge that cut its value nearly in half since October. Treasuries climbed, sending two-year yields to the lowest in almost a month. Silver plummeted 13%.
A recent decline in all things related to AI coincided with persistent fears about whether massive investments in the technology will pay off. A clear example was the reaction to Alphabet Inc.'s results, which sank 2.5% after outlining an ambitious spending plan even as revenue beat estimates. Amazon.com Inc. reports earnings later Thursday.
The selling pressure started to put a visible dent in equity benchmarks whose ascent had pushed valuations to some of the highest levels since the 2000 dot-com peak. While losses in previous sessions were confined mostly to growth sectors, Thursday saw a broadening of selling pressure, with eight of 11 major industries in the S&P 500 retreating.
Its equally weighted version -- one that strips out market value biases -- dropped from an all-time high.
Bets on economic resilience have recently fueled gains in companies that tend to benefit from improving growth prospects; the latest data underscored the uneven labor market characterized by limited numbers of overall dismissals and lackluster hiring.
US job openings unexpectedly fell in December to the lowest level since 2020 and layoffs edged up. Companies announced the largest number of job cuts for any January since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Meantime, jobless claims rose more than forecast last week.
"The latest labor figures reiterate that the US jobs market is not firing on all cylinders, a risk the Fed and investors will have to take seriously should further deterioration occur," said Bret Kenwell at eToro. "Volatility could persist, particularly if near-term uncertainty increases."
On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged as officials assess the economic toll of a rally in the euro and renewed trade unpredictability. The Bank of England came within a vote of cutting interest rates and predicted inflation will fall below its target, a closer-than-expected decision that revived hopes of a move next month.
Corporate Highlights:
- President Donald Trump plans to unveil a website on Thursday allowing people to directly purchase prescription drugs, part of his push to address Americans' concerns about affordability.
- Qualcomm Inc., the largest maker of smartphone processors, gave a lackluster revenue forecast for the current period, stoking concern that component shortages will hurt consumer demand by driving prices up. The shares dropped in extended trading.
- Arm Holdings Plc shares rebounded after analysts praised the chip designer's latest quarterly report, which initially drew a tepid response from investors.
- Peloton Interactive Inc. provided a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for the fiscal third quarter, disappointing investors who hoped a recent hardware revamp would spur a long-promised turnaround.
- Saudi Arabia's flagship carrier is in early talks with Boeing Co. and Airbus SE for what could be its largest plane purchase ever as the kingdom commits billions of dollars toward becoming a travel and tourism hub.
- Hims & Hers Health Inc. launched a cheaper copycat version of Novo Nordisk A/S's Wegovy pill. The move comes during a brutal week for the Danish drugmaker, which has lost $60 billion in market value after warning investors that sales could decline as much as 13% this year.
- ConocoPhillips is forecasting a cut to its crude production this year as oil prices slump and prime drilling sites in US shale fields grow scarce.
- Ralph Lauren Corp.'s quarterly report raised concerns that strategic investments and a sales miss in Europe could slow the high-end apparel company's momentum.
- Estée Lauder Cos.'s outlook boost failed to reassure investors about the pace of the cosmetics conglomerate's turnaround.
- Bristol Myers Squibb Co. forecast 2026 sales and profit above Wall Street's expectations, a sign that the company's newer medicines are helping stem the losses from its older drugs that are losing patent protection.
- Cigna Group set the floor for its 2026 earnings outlook shy of Wall Street expectations as the health-care conglomerate revamps its drug benefit plans, a move the company has warned will drag on profits.
- Hershey Co. offered a better-than-expected 2026 outlook, saying higher prices and new products would bolster the candymaker's performance.
- The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, cut about one-third of its staff in an effort to pare losses and restore the struggling newspaper to profitability.
- Bank of America Corp. -- aiming to double the profit it makes from consumers -- is revamping its approach to credit cards as the lender embarks on a plan to meet one of its most audacious financial targets set last year.
- KKR & Co. reported a drop in fourth-quarter profit and executives were pressed on its exposure to artificial intelligence risks and plunging software stocks.
- The crypto exchange run by billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss is slashing as much as 25% of its workforce and winding down operations in the UK, European Union and Australia, marking a major pullback for two of the industry's most high-profile figures amid a rout in the sector.
- Rio Tinto Group is walking away from talks to acquire Glencore Plc after the two sides failed to agree on valuation, scuttling a potential mega merger that would have created the world's largest mining company.
- Barrick Mining Corp. plans to spin off its top North American gold assets in an initial public offering later this year as part of a strategic reset by the Canadian metals producer.
- BP Plc is looking for a partner to help ramp up production and share some costs at one of the Middle East's oldest oil fields, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
- Shell Plc profits slumped in the fourth quarter, undershooting expectations as lower crude prices and a struggling chemicals business dented earnings.
- BNP Paribas SA beat expectations and raised some targets, boosting Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe and his plan to prop up a lender that has long lagged peers.
- HSBC Holdings Plc is preparing to hand some bankers little or zero bonuses as the 160-year-old British lender seeks to emulate its Wall Street rivals with a more hard-edged, "eat-what-you-kill" stance.
- Some units at UBS Group AG's investment bank have seen their bonus pools rise by as much as 20% for 2025, people familiar with the matter said.
- A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S plans to cut jobs and focus on cost discipline this year as the container giant seeks to insulate its earnings against deteriorating freight rates with Red Sea routes reopening.
- Baidu Inc. announced plans to issue its first dividend alongside a three-year stock buyback program of as much as $5 billion, moving to reward investors who've endured a multiyear retreat in the Chinese search leader's market value.
- Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.'s revenue surged in January, suggesting demand for Nvidia Corp. servers remains resilient during a global wave of AI development.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 12:48 p.m. New York time
- The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%
- The MSCI World Index fell 0.7%
- Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.1%
- iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF fell 2.2%
- Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index rose 0.7%
- The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.6%
- S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index fell 0.5%
- Alphabet fell 2.4%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
- The euro was little changed at $1.1801
- The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3552
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 156.89 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 8% to $66,783.38
- Ether fell 7.6% to $1,964.59
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined six basis points to 4.21%
- Germany's 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.84%
- Britain's 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.56%
- The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined six basis points to 3.49%
- The yield on 30-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.86%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.2% to $63.70 a barrel
- Spot gold fell 1.7% to $4,878.14 an ounce