Markets mixed as investors see possible peak

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.2 percent and the Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.1 percent.

A report on Thursday showed that initial US jobless claims fell by 7,000 to 222,000 in the week ended 17 February, marking the second lowest level since the end of the 2007-2009 recession.

Steven Baffico, chief executive officer at Four Wood Capital Partners, said: “In general, the broader economic conditions continue to improve.”

That did not stop nearly half of hedge-fund investors from thinking that the stock market has peaked.

Indeed, David Tice, former manager of the Prudent Bear Fund, told CNBC on Wednesday that the February correction is just a foreshock and that the US stock market could be 20 to 25 percent lower by the end of 2018.

“I feel like the weight of the evidence is that we've broken a tectonic plate,” he said.