Dow drops more than 250 points amid global economic recovery concerns, S&P 500 slides; European stocks close sharply lower amid global sell-off as recovery concerns weigh 
The major U.S. stock indexes fell Thursday on concerns about the global economic comeback from Covid-19. The losses came as Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo for the upcoming Olympics and as countries deal with a rebound in cases due to Covid variants. 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 259.86 points, or 0.75%, to 34,421.93. The S&P 500 lost 0.86% to close at 4,320.82. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.72% to 14,559.78. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at records in the prior session because of gains from tech shares. Stocks closed off their lows of the day, which saw the Dow down as much as 536 points. 
The Labor Department’s latest jobless claims data came in unexpectedly higher at 373,000, signaling a possible slowdown in the the labor picture amid the Covid recovery. Economists expected to see 350,000 first-time applicants for unemployment benefits for the week ended July 3, according to Dow Jones. 
Chip stocks also fell on concerns about the pace of the global recovery. Micron, Qualcomm, Intel and Applied Materials fell more than 1% and Nvidia dropped 2.3%. Technology stocks also declined with Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google-parent Alphabet all closing in the red. Amazon bucked the trend and rose 0.9%. 
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and other financial shares declined more than 2% each on Thursday as their profitability outlook dimmed with lower rates. JPMorgan Chase and PNC Financial were also lower. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed down 1.8%, with retailers dropping 3.2% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses slid deep into negative territory. 
The plunge for Europe reflected negative sentiment in both Asia and the U.S. In terms of individual share price action in Europe, Knorr-Bremse climbed 7.3% after the German brake manufacturer abandoned plans to buy a majority stake in automotive lighting company Hella. 
Source: CNBC, Investing.com