Rally pauses | Job losses continue | Facebook work-from-home plans

Stocks slipped slightly following another grim jobless claims report and rising tensions with China.

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE THU, MAY 21, 2020 EVENING BRIEF AS OF THU, MAY 21, 2020 • 04:24 ET DJIA 24474.12 -0.41% -101.78 S&P 500 2948.51 -0.78% -23.10 NASDAQ 9284.88 -0.97% -90.89   Most Active DOW NAME LAST CHG %CHG BA 139.00 +5.68 +4.26% MSFT 183.43 -2.23 -1.20% AAPL 316.85 -2.38 -0.75% S&P 500 NAME LAST CHG %CHG GE 6.48 +0.06 +0.93% F 5.63 +0.14 +2.55% NCLH 14.03 +1.25 +9.78% NASDAQ NAME LAST CHG %CHG UAL 25.84 +0.93 +3.73% SIRI 5.20 -0.04 -0.67% AMD 54.65 -1.74 -3.09% EDITOR'S NOTE Let's stay home and trade stocks. What else is there to do in a nation full of lockdowns and stimulus checks?   CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald writes that securities trading was one of the most common uses of the government payments issued to ease the economic strain of the coronavirus pandemic.   People earning between $35,000 and $75,000 annually increased stock trading by 90% more after receiving their stimulus checks, according to software and data aggregation company Envestnet Yodlee. Americans earning $100,000 to $150,000 annually boosted trading by 82%. The money was supposed to be for necessities, but perhaps for many Americans, taking it to the stock market was like running to the racetrack to try to win the rent money. At least, the market had their backs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are up nearly 35% from their March lows.   Stocks, however, were down slightly on Thursday, with investors showing no reaction to an ugly jobless claims report.Another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment in the week ended May 9, bringing the pandemic's toll to more than 38 million jobless claims so far.   Investors continue to ignore bad news. And bad employment news keeps coming with little relief from state-by-state reopening efforts, writes CNBC's Patti Domm.   "The floodwaters are still rising in the labor market," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, "and it doesn't look like there's any hope at the moment."   Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world. Al Lewis | CNBC Markets Editor @tellittoal TOP NEWS  Stocks slide as Wall Street rally pauses, Amazon falls after hitting record Zuckerberg says employees moving out of Silicon Valley may face pay cuts Jobless claims total 2.4 million, still elevated levels but a declining pace from previous weeks Tesla returns to 'normal operations' at U.S. car and battery factories — read the email sent to production workforce It's 'dangerous to ignore the market:' Bank of America sees $1 trillion in cash to fuel stocks Bill to delist Chinese stocks moving at 'warp speed' as a crackdown gains bipartisan support Track the latest coronavirus news here The coronavirus pandemic has upended auto sales and buying a car will never be the same The Mall of America hasn't paid its mortgage in two months Hedge funds piled into these stocks during the first-quarter sell-off     TOP VIDEO It's going to be a hard couple of years, we will be in a recession for awhile: Marc Lasry   CNBC PRO Here's what value investor Bill Nygren is betting on now, including tech and large banks   SPECIAL REPORTS Zoom Video chart suggests rally is showing signs of distress, strategist says Tread carefully if you're buying biotech stocks, traders say as group nears all-time highs   Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Terms of Service Join the CNBC Panel Digital Products Feedback Privacy Policy   © 2020 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBCUniversal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS