In the early morning of the 20th Beijing time, U. S. stocks closed down on Thursday, continuing Wednesday's downward trend, the S & P 500 index further approaching the bear market. The market is still assessing the disappointing results of a number of retailers, US inflation and the Fed's aggressive tightening stance. The number of US initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 218000 last week.

The Dow fell 236.94, or 0.75%, to 31253.13; the Nasdaq fell 29.66, or 0.26%, to 11388.50; and the S & P 500 fell 22.89, or 0.58%, to 3900.79.

Both the S & P and the Nasdaq are likely to record a seventh straight week of declines. The S & P 500 is now on the brink of a bear market. If the index closes below 3837.25, down more than 20 per cent from its recent high, it is a technical bear market.

The recent results of large retailers have seriously dampened market sentiment. Some of the world's largest retailers have issued stern warnings highlighting the dire consequences of soaring inflation.

A number of Wall Street agencies have discussed the possibility of the US economy entering a recession. At present, Goldman Sachs Group strategists believe that the probability of the US economy falling into recession in the next two years is as high as 35 per cent. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, puts the probability of a US recession in the next 12 months at 25 per cent. Wells Fargo & Co said the United States would experience a "slight recession" between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose 21000 to 218000 in the week ended May 14. Analysts surveyed expected a median of 200000. Another data showed that the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index for May was 2.6, with a forecast of 15, compared with a previous value of 17.6.

On Thursday, Tesla, Inc., the champion of US stock turnover, closed down 0.05%.two hundred and fourteenOne billion US dollars.Morgan Stanley reported that Tesla, Inc. 's first quarter is likely to be its strongest quarter of the year, and it is expected that profit margins for the rest of the year will be affected by a combination of factors, including the cost of increasing production at factories in Berlin and Austin in Germany, as well as rising prices of raw materials. Morgan Stanley also said that it is high time to reevaluate Tesla, Inc..

According to another report, Twitter executives told employees at a staff meeting on Thursday that the deal with Musk went as expected and would not renegotiate the price.

In second place, Apple Inc Company closed down 2.46%, closing the deal.188.6One billion US dollars.Bank of America Securities on Thursday lowered its target price for Apple Inc's shares to $200 from $215. The bank pointed out that Apple Inc's valuation multiple was squeezed by unfavorable factors such as supply chain bottlenecks and macroeconomic (specifically, soaring inflation and the prospect of higher interest rates).

Cisco Systems, No. 8, fell 13.73%, and the deal was made.forty-oneOne billion US dollars.Cisco Systems reported that the third-quarter results were lower than market expectations and expected sales to fall unexpectedly this quarter. For the quarter ended April 30, the company earned 87 cents a share. Revenue was $12.8 billion, below analysts' consensus estimate of $13.34 billion.

Cisco Systems expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 76 cents to 84 cents, while revenue fell 1% to 5.5% from a year earlier. Analysts had expected the company to earn 92 cents a share next quarter on revenue of $13.87 billion, up about 6 per cent from a year earlier.

Target Corp, the 10th retailer, closed down 5.06% on a turnover of US $3.6 billion.BofA Securities lowered Target Corp's target price to $235 from $289 and maintained its buy rating on the stock. Earlier, Target Corp announced that gross profit margin in the first quarter fell 430bp from a year earlier, resulting in excess inventories due to higher-than-expected freight and transportation costs and weaker-than-expected sales in several categories.

In 12th place, Shopify Inc gained 8.52%, with a turnover of US $3 billion.Including Shopify Inc, the U. S. stock SaaS (Software-as-a-service, software as a service) concept stocks rose.

The 16th Block closed 6.19% higher, with a turnover of $2.1 billion.Block is also one of the U. S. stock SaaS concept stocks. Morgan Stanley lowered his target price to $110 from $118,000,000.

In 17th place, Broadcom Ltd closed down 4.27%, with a turnover of US $1.92 billion.Affected by Cisco Systems's warning of sales performance, the shares of network equipment manufacturers such as Broadcom Ltd generally fell on Thursday.

The following are the 20 most actively traded stocks of the day (by turnover):