US close: Stocks firmer as jobless claims fall further
Wall Street stocks finished well above the waterline on Thursday with technology plays back in favour, after the blue-chip index turned in its worst performance since January in the previous session.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.29% at 34,021.45, as the S&P 500 added 1.22% to 4,112.50 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.72% to 13,124.99
The Dow closed 433.79 points higher on Thursday, shrugging off losses recorded on Wednesday that came as major indices fell on higher-than-expected inflation data.
However, despite a solid fight back through the session which saw US markets up for the first time in four days, both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were still expected to finish with historic low weeks.
Thursday's main focus was this week's jobless report from the Department of Labor, which fell yet again in the week ended 8 May.
The reading slipped from January's peak of about 900,000 to the lowest level for initial claims since 14 March 2020, when it was 256,000.
Continuing claims came in at 3.65m, down from an upwardly-revised figure of 3.7m.
Also in focus, April's producer price index rose 0.6% month-on-month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicating that firms had paid higher prices to producers last month, another sign of inflation in an economy rapidly recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Year-on-year, the PPI was up a massive 6.2%, the largest increase since tracking began in 2010.
On the cryptocurrency front, Bitcoin crashed 9% after Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said the electric carmaker would no longer accept it for vehicle purchases, citing concerns about the "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions".
Shares in cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase closed down 6.53% on the back of Musk’s comments.
Joining it on the downside was dating app developer Bumble, which slid 14.31% even after it reported first quarter revenue growth and user numbers that beat expectations.
On the upside, Boeing managed gains of 0.84% after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave it the go-ahead for an electrical fix for the globally-grounded 737 MAX fleet.
Home audio technology firm Sonos leapt 7.4% after reporting an unexpected net profit of 12 cents a share for the second quarter, against market expectations for losses of 22 cents per share.
Dow Jones - Risers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $325.42 2.66%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $157.76 2.61%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $161.50 2.57%
3M Co. (MMM) $203.41 2.28%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $54.14 2.07%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $144.17 2.03%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $124.97 1.79%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $52.49 1.72%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $138.24 1.69%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $243.03 1.69%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.68 -0.64%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $133.61 0.16%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $178.34 0.28%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $252.07 0.49%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $211.86 0.63%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $58.81 0.68%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $68.08 0.71%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $54.01 0.73%
S&P 500 - Risers
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $100.80 5.01%
Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $35.51 4.93%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $584.73 4.85%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $58.06 4.78%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $24.40 4.63%
Mohawk Inds Inc. (MHK) $218.97 4.53%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $119.92 4.39%
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) $34.06 4.16%
M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) $164.68 4.15%
People's United Financial Inc. (PBCT) $19.03 4.10%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $18.93 -20.40%
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) $23.71 -5.61%
Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG) $76.20 -4.13%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $67.91 -4.12%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $11.07 -4.07%
Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) $262.71 -3.50%
Apache Corp. (APA) $20.40 -3.45%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $24.75 -3.24%
Macy's Inc. (M) $15.86 -3.23%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $151.87 -2.75%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $584.73 4.85%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $119.92 4.39%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $167.72 3.54%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $623.09 3.52%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $296.76 3.49%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $87.13 3.22%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $311.66 3.11%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $66.37 3.09%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $281.71 2.81%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $353.21 2.75%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $67.03 -5.92%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $571.69 -3.09%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $101.51 -2.98%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $179.30 -2.18%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $114.61 -1.93%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $162.74 -0.93%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $222.58 -0.86%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $546.61 -0.68%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,296.65 -0.45%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $139.13 -0.39%