Stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Thursday, extending the rally seen earlier in the week. With the upward move on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow surged up 332.26 points or 1.1 percent to 31,055.86, the Nasdaq jumped 167.20 points or 1.2 percent to 13,777.74 and the S&P 500 shot up 41.57 points or 1.1 percent to 3,871.74.
The markets continued to benefit from the upward momentum seen on Monday and Tuesday, which helped stocks largely offset the steep losses posted last week.
Easing concerns about speculative trading have helped drive the markets higher along with mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 30th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 779,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 812,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 830,000 from the 847,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Jobless claims dropped for the third straight week, falling to their lowest level since hitting 716,000 in the week ended November 28th.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of January.
Economists currently expect employment to rise by 50,000 jobs in January after slumping by 140,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 6.7 percent.
Traders have recently taken an optimistic view toward most economic data, seeing upbeat data as a positive for the economy while seeing disappointing data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.
Sector News
Airline stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.6 percent to its best closing level since last February.
Substantial strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index.
Tobacco stocks also showed a significant move to the upside on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index.
Oil Service, computer hardware and telecom stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Meanwhile, gold stocks were among the few groups to buck the uptrend, resulting in a 1.9 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
The weakness among gold stocks came amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery plunging $43.90 to $1,791.20 an ounce.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, although the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries climbed well off their worst levels but closed slightly lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 1.139 percent after reaching a high of 1.162 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Friday is likely to driven by reaction to the Labor Department’s closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of January.
Earnings news may also attract attention, with Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Ford (F), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Peloton (PTON), and Snap (SNAP) among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today’s trading.
Business News
Nasdaq, S&P 500 Jump To New Record Closing Highs
2021-02-04 21:18:02
