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| - Wall Street stocks fell in early trading Thursday following data showing an historic drop in US growth in the second quarter and higher weekly jobless claims. About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.5 percent at 26,139.48. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent to 3,221.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.6 percent to 10,476.23. Besides the US data, investors are also looking ahead to a deluge of major earnings reports, with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook all reporting after the closing bell. The US economy contracted a stunning 32.9 percent in the second quarter due to lockdowns imposed to stop the coronavirus. The decline, though slightly less bad than expected, was the worst on record for the world's largest economy dating back to 1947. Also troubling, the Department of Labor reported that the US saw its second consecutive weekly increase in new claims for unemployment benefits, with 1.43 million filed. The reports came a day after Federal Reserve Chief Jay Powell said there were signs the resurgence of the coronavirus over the last month in the US has weighed on the recovery. Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said investors were also anxious ahead of earnings reports later from the tech giants, describing the unease as "fear that no matter what they report, they will succumb to sell-the-news interest after the massive moves they have made from the March lows." jmb/cs
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