Dow Falls Over 300 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Fall

Market Overview - U.S. stocks traded lower, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 300 points, down 0.76% to 45,872.27, NASDAQ down 1.25% to 21,876.31, and S&P 500 down 0.93% to 6,563.00 [1] - European shares also declined, with the eurozone's STOXX 600 falling 2.8%, Spain's IBEX 35 Index down 2.9%, London's FTSE 100 down 2.8%, Germany's DAX down 3.1%, and France's CAC 40 down 2.4% [4] - Asian markets closed lower, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 3.38%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 2.02%, China's Shanghai Composite down 1.39%, and India's BSE Sensex down 3.26% [5] Sector Performance - Energy shares increased by 0.7% on Thursday [1] - Materials stocks fell by 2.5% during the trading session [1] Commodities - Oil prices increased by 1.3% to $97.54, while gold prices decreased by 6.5% to $4,576.00 [3] - Silver prices fell by 12% to $68.250, and copper prices decreased by 4.1% to $5.3645 [3] Economic Indicators - U.S. initial jobless claims decreased by 8,000 to 205,000, contrasting with market estimates of a 2,000 increase [2][6] - The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 18.1 in March, the highest since September 2025, up from 16.3 in February [6] - U.S. building permits declined by 4.7% month-over-month in January to an annual rate of 1.386 million [6]