Wall Street slips as surging virus cases dent recovery hopes; Dow falls 1%

US stock indexes fell in choppy trading on Thursday as fears of another lockdown to contain a surge in coronavirus cases overshadowed data pointing to a declining trend in weekly jobless claims.

The Labor Department's most timely data on the economy showed 1.31 million Americans filed for state unemployment benefits in the latest week, down from 1.43 million in the previous week.
 

However, the labor market remains fragile as the United States reported more than 60,000 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, setting a single-day global record.

"We are reaching levels of unemployment that are likely to persist until a more true reopening