U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as trading resumed after the Christmas holiday and Wall Street digested one of the few key economic data points of the week.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) also lost around 0.2%.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) slumped and fell below the $96,000 level as volatile trading continued. Crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) saw the declines.

Markets appeared to be having a hard time extending the start of the “Santa Claus rally,” which began with a bang on Tuesday. All three major indices rose around 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite moved within striking distance of their records after clawing back gains from a Fed-fueled decline last week.

As Wall Street returns from its holiday break, the normally routine release of weekly jobless claims has been thrust into the spotlight more than usual as the only piece of the jobs puzzle on the agenda this week.

Labor Department data released before the market open showed weekly jobless claims fell to 219,000, compared with expectations of 223,000. However, continued claims pointed to a slowdown in the labor market, rising by 46,000 to 1.91 million in the week ended December 14, the highest since November 2021.

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