Bay Area business stalwarts such as Apple, Tesla and Cisco Systems all saw their shares get pummeled Thursday as stocks dropped across the board following reports of rising coronavirus cases in states that have started reopening their economies.
Apple shares fell by 2.6%, to $343.70, while Tesla was down by 3%, at $993.14, and Cisco shares dropped by more than 5%, to $44.92.
Other sizable losses came from Intel, down by 4%, at $61.33 a share; Facebook, which fell more than 4%, to $226.90; Alphabet, off by 2.5, to fall to $1,429.06 and HP, which saw its shares give up 5.6%, to fall to $15.95.
The losses sent the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average on a path toward its worst single-day performance since March, as it gave up 1,544 points, or 5.7%, to fall to 25,430.32. The S&P 500 gave up 4.2%, to fall to 3,055.22, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down by 3.2%, at 9,677.84.
The reports of coronavirus cases rising in some states added to concerns about a second major wave of the virus working its way across the country just as many businesses are reopening and summer is about to start.
In California, where some counties have begun to allow in-store shopping and dining at restaurants after nearly three months of restrictions, the number of COVID-19 related deaths reached almost 5,000 on Wednesday, as almost 2,900 new cases were reported statewide. California now has almost 140,000 reported cases of coronavirus across the state. Other states that have begun reopening such as Arizona, Florida, Texas and North Carolina have seen their number of coronavirus cases on the rise.
The latest numbers on jobless claims alsoprovided a mixed bag of data about the state of the economy, as the Labor Department said 1.54 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment assistance last week. That was down from the 1.9 million claims in the prior week, but also lifted the number of unemployment claims across the country to 44 million over the last three months.
Unemployment claims in California rose for the second-straight week, according to the Labor Department, which said 258,000 Californians filed for first time claims on top of the 228,600 claims in the week ending May 30.
Speaking on CNBC Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that despite the increase in coronavirus cases, putting the brakes on the economy again was out of the question.
“We can’t shut down the economy again,” Mnuchin said. “I think we’ve learned that if you shut down the economy, you’re going to create more damage.”
