US markets end higher on Thursday

30 Apr 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for US unemployment benefits dropped to a new pandemic-era low in the week ended April 24th. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 553,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 566,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 549,000 from the 547,000 originally reported for the previous week. Jobless claims fell for the third straight week, once again sliding to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020. Meanwhile, preliminary data released by the Commerce Department showed an acceleration in the pace of US economic growth in the first three months of 2021.

The report said real gross domestic product surged up by 6.4 percent in the first quarter after jumping by 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. Street had expected GDP to increase by 6.5 percent. Besides, support also came in following the release of upbeat earnings reports from tech giants like Apple and Facebook. Shares of Apple jumped as much as 2.6 percent in early trading to reach a nearly three-month intraday high but pulled back near the unchanged line over the course of the session. The company reported fiscal second quarter earnings that far exceeded street estimates and increased its stock buyback and dividend. Social media giant Facebook climbed to a new record closing high after reporting much better than expected first quarter earnings.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 239.98 points or 0.71 percent to 34,060.36, Nasdaq gained 31.51 points or 0.22 percent to 14,082.55 and S&P 500 was up by 28.29 points or 0.68 percent to 4,211.47.

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