US markets end higher on Thursday

08 May 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday with a rally in shares of energy and financials powering the day’s moves. A rally in the technology-related Nasdaq helped to drive the index retrace its coronavirus-induced selloff of the past two months. The strength on markets came amid continued optimism about the U.S. economy at least partially reopening in the near future. News that a coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna (MRNA) has been given FDA approval for a phase 2 trial added to the positive sentiment. The gains came despite a US weekly jobless claims report showing another 3 million Americans lost their jobs, but investors appeared relieved that the pace of job losses is ebbing as some states begin to reopen their economies.

First-time claims for US unemployment benefits pulled back further off their recent record high in the week ended May 2nd, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 3.169 million, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week's revised level of 3.846 million. Street had expected jobless claims to tumble to 3.000 million from the 3.839 million originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, a report released by the Labor Department showed US labor productivity pulled back by much less than expected in the first quarter. The Labor Department said labor productivity slumped by 2.5 percent in the first quarter after jumping by 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Street had expected productivity to plunge by 5.5 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 211.25 points or 0.89 percent to 23,875.89, Nasdaq rose 125.27 points 1.41 percent to 8,979.66 and S&P 500 was up by 32.77 points or 1.15 percent to 2,881.19. 

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