US markets end higher on Thursday

31 Jan 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency. Earlier in the day, the US confirmed its first human-to human transmission of the virus, which has killed 171 people in China and has spread to as many as 18 other countries. The virus has reportedly infected more than 8,100 people so far, outnumbering the infections saw during the entire SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus said  that the organization witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen that has resulted in an unprecedented outbreak and that it is time to act together to limit the spread. On the economic data front, US economic growth in the fourth quarter continued at the same pace as in the previous quarter, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product climbed by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the third quarter and in line with street estimates.

The fourth quarter GDP growth reflected positive contributions from consumer spending, government spending, residential fixed investment, and exports as well as a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP. Besides, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits decreased from an upwardly revised level in the week ended January 25. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 216,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 211,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 124.99 points or 0.43 percent to 28859.44, Nasdaq gained 23.77 points or 0.26 percent to 9298.93 and S&P 500 was up by 10.26 points or 0.31 percent to 3283.66.

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