NASDAQ defies other markets, gaining amid historic economic drop

The tech-heavy NASDAQ composite defied other major stock indexes, gaining ground as the others dropped in the face of hard economic news.

The NASDAQ composite closed the day up 45 points, or 0.4 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 228 points, or 0.9 percent, and the S&P 500 fell 12 points, or 0.4 percent.

The drops in major indexes followed the worst recorded quarterly economic contraction on the books, a 32.9 percent annualized drop in the second quarter.

The COVID-19 pandemic that ground the economy to a halt earlier this year continued to take a toll, with high unemployment. Initial jobless claims have been above 1.3 million for 19 weeks in a row. New data released Thursday showed the number rose for the second week counting, at 1.4 million.

But the NASDAQ defied gravity on the power of a few major technology companies, which were expected to announce their earnings after the closing bell.

Among them are the four companies that testified before Congress on Wednesday: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google parent company Alphabet, which together account for over a third of the NASDAQ 100.