US markets end higher on Thursday

09 Apr 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 reaching a new record closing high, following the Federal Reserve's repeated assurances that monetary policy is likely to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. The minutes of the Fed's March meeting reiterated that the central bank does not intend to change its ultra-loose monetary policy anytime soon. The Fed stressed any changes to policy will be outcome-based, indicating interest rates will remain unchanged until the goals of maximum employment and inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time are achieved. The minutes also showed officials are not concerned about the recent increase in Treasury yields, which the Fed attributed to investor optimism about the economic outlook and expectations of higher Treasury debt issuance.

On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended April 3rd. The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 744,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level of 728,000. Jobless claims rose for the second straight week after falling to a one-year low of 658,000 in the week ended March 20th. The continued increase surprised participants, who had expected jobless claims to drop to 680,000 from the 719,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.31 points or 0.17 percent to 33,503.57, Nasdaq surged 140.47 points or 1.03 percent to 13,829.31 and S&P 500 was up by 17.22 points or 0.42 percent to 4,097.17.

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