The daily business briefing: March 10, 2023

Stocks fall ahead of February jobs report, Bitcoin price plunges after Silvergate crypto bank closes, and more

Bitcoin.
(Image credit: Armend Nimani/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Stocks fall ahead of February jobs report

U.S. stocks plunged Thursday after a weekly report on jobless claims showed that initial claims for unemployment benefits rose last week but remained historically low, indicating that the hiring market remained strong ahead of Friday's February jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell 1.7 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 2.1 percent. The February jobs report will provide an update on the state of the labor market. If hiring comes in stronger than expected, the Federal Reserve could feel more pressure to raise interest rates higher and longer than previously anticipated to slow the economy and bring down inflation. Stock futures dipped further early Friday.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.