A strong April has feeble end

A crush of dismal data about the economy helped push down stocks Thursday, a meek ending to Wall Street’s juggernaut month.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 0.9% after reports showed more than 3.8 million more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week and the European economy crumpled to its worst performance on record last quarter, among other lowlights. It was the index’s biggest decline in more than a week, but still just a wiggle within its best month in decades.

The index surged 12.7% in April, its biggest monthly gain since 1987. Before Thursday’s fall, it had been on track for its best month since 1974 as stocks recouped more than half the 34% they lost in February and March on worries about a sudden, devastating recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The disconnect between the market and the economy in April is about as wide as any of us have ever seen,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial.

Promises from the Federal Reserve to do whatever it takes to prop up the economy through the coronavirus crisis helped spark the rally, as did trillions of dollars in spending by Congress. The rally has continued recently on optimism that economies around the world are close to reopening. All but 27 stocks in the S&P 500 climbed during April.

Stocks’ April gains came in the face of mayhem in the oil market, where prices in one corner dipped below zero for the first time, and as investors continued to rush into U.S. government bonds in search of safety.

Thursday’s deluge of dour economic data — along with some investors looking to sell after weeks of gains — was enough to send 86% of stocks in the S&P 500 down and European stocks sharply lower.

The S&P 500 fell 27.08 points to 2,912.43. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 288.14 points, or 1.2%, to 24,345.72. The Nasdaq slipped 25.16 points, or 0.3%, to 8,889.55.

Besides the new unemployment filings in the United States, which brought the total to 30 million in just six weeks, data released Thursday showed that consumer spending plunged a record 7.5% in March from February.

Facebook rose 5.4% after it reported trends in advertising revenue stabilized in April after a steep drop in March. Microsoft rose 1% after reporting better-thanexpected results for the first quarter.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 0.63% from 0.62%.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil continued its extreme swings, jumping 25.1% to $18.84 a barrel. Brent crude rose 12.1% to $25.27.