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Dow sinks 1,800 as virus cases rise, deflating optimism

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrials lost more than 1,800 points, nearly 7%, as increases in coronavirus cases deflated optimism that the economy could recover quickly from its worst crisis in decades. The pullback Thursday comes after the market has been screeching higher for more than two months at a pace that many skeptics say was overdone and didn’t reflect the dire state of the economy. A day earlier, the Federal Reserve said the road back to recovery would be long. Bond yields fell sharply, a sign of increasing caution among investors. Crude oil prices sank 8%.

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1.5 million more laid-off workers seek unemployment benefits

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening. The latest figure from the Labor Department marked the 10th straight weekly decline in applications for jobless aid since they peaked in mid-March when the coronavirus hit hard. Still, the pace of layoffs remains historically high. The total number of people who are receiving unemployment aid fell slightly, a sign that some people who were laid off when restaurants, retail chains and small businesses suddenly shut down have been recalled to work.

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Chinese officials call for improved ties with US

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials say Beijing will honor its trade deal with the U.S. and wants to see better ties with Washington. Zhu Guangyao, a former vice finance minister and Cabinet advisor, said the two countries should “waste no time” in improving relations to help better coordinate a response to the coronavirus pandemic. He said relations with the U.S. were “far from satisfactory” with communications at a “standstill.” He and other officials said the two biggest economies are so closely entwined that they must find a way to work together because a lack of cooperation has come at a “high price.”

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US wholesale prices rise 0.4% in May led by food and energy

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.4% in May, led by a gains in the cost of food and energy. The Labor Department said Thursday that its Producer Price Index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach the consumer, showed an increase after three straight months of declines. Those declines had reflected in part the steep drop in demand caused by government- ordered shutdowns to deal with the coronavirus. The cost of food was up 6% last month. Food costs have been rising due to high demand from Americans staying at home and also because of lost production following virus outbreaks at food processing facilities. The cost of energy products such as gasoline rose 4.5% after three months of declines.

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US long-term mortgage rates mostly steady; 30-year at 3.21%

WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were mostly steady this week, continuing to hover near all-time lows. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reports that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan edged up to 3.21% from 3.18% last week. The average rate on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged at 2.62%. The government reported that about 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening. But applications for jobless aid, though still historically high, have now declined for 10 straight weeks.

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Microsoft joins Amazon, IBM in pausing face scans for police

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft has become the third big tech company this week to say it won’t sell its facial recognition software to police, following similar moves by Amazon and IBM. Microsoft’s president and chief counsel, Brad Smith, announced the decision and called for Congress to regulate the technology during a Washington Post video event on Thursday. The trio of tech giants is stepping back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin. Ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd have focused attention on racial injustice in the U.S. and how police use technology to track people.

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Comcast, Byron Allen end racial discrimination dispute

NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast and Byron Allen have settled a long-running a long-running racial discrimination dispute, and the cable giant will add three of the black media mogul’s channels to its cable packages. Allen had sued Comcast for $20 billion in 2015 for refusing to carry seven of his networks, saying it was because of his race. Comcast has said it declined to carry the channels because the programming wasn’t original or of a good enough quality. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which in March reversed a lower court ruling in favor of Allen.

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The S&P 500 dropped 188.04 points, or 5.9%, to 3002.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average skidded 1,861.82 points, or 6.9%, to 25,128.17. The Nasdaq composite lost 527.62 points, or 5.3%, to 9,492.73. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 111.17 points, or 7.6%, to 1,356.22.