U.S. stock markets closed higher on Thursday, led by a comeback in technology shares. Moreover, an upbeat initial jobless claims report which showed initial claims falling to a fresh pandemic-era low, provided a boost to investors’ confidence. All the three major stock indexes closed the day in green.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.6%, or 188.11 points, closing at 34,084.15, snapping its three-day losing streak. Notably, 25 components of the 30-stock index ended in green while 5 finished the day in red.
Moreover, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day at 13,535.74, up 1.8%, or 236.00 points, reversing its losses from the previous three sessions, on the back of strong performance by large-cap technology stocks. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 1.1%, closing the day at 4,159.12, reversing from three consecutive days of losses. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK), the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) gained 1.9%, 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively. Notably, ten out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in the positive zone and one in the red.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 6.8% to 20.67. A total of 9.30 billion shares were traded on Thursday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.05 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.25-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.42-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Technology Shares Made a Comeback
Wall Street took a breather from the sell-off that was witnessed during the previous three sessions and staged a comeback on Thursday, led by technology shares. Market participants shook off concerns about rising inflation that had dented the performance of high-flying technology growth stocks in recent sessions.
Notably, shares of heavyweight technology names like Apple Inc.
AAPL
, Facebook, Inc.
FB
, Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT
rose 2.1%, 1.6%, 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. Notably, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
Economic Data
Investors’ sentiment was buoyed in Thursday’s session as initial jobless claim hit a fresh pandemic-era low. Per a report by the U.S. Department of Labor, initial jobless claims declined by 34,000 to 444,000 for the week-ended May 15. Notably, this marked the lowest level for initial claims since Mar 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. The consensus estimate was 458,000 and previous week’s data was revised upward by 5,000 to 478,000 from 473,000 reported earlier.
Continuing claims (people who are already receiving benefits) increased by 111,000 to 3,751,000 for the week ended May 8 from the prior week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised downward by 15,000 to 3,640,000 from 3,655,000 reported earlier.
The four-week moving average for continuing claims increased by 24,750 to 3,681,000. The prior week’s average was revised downward by 8,750 to 3,656,250 from 3,665,000 reported earlier.
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