US markets end higher on Thursday

23 Jul 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday despite an unexpected jump in jobless claims that resurfaced some concerns about the economy and sent bond yields lower. A report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected increase in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended July 17th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 419,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week's revised level of 368,000. The rebound surprised participants, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 350,000 from the 360,000 originally reported for the previous week. The report showed the less volatile four-week moving average also crept up to 385,250, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 384,500.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showing existing home sales rebounded in the month of June following four straight monthly declines. NAR said existing home sales jumped by 1.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.86 million in June after slumping by 1.2 percent to a revised rate of 5.78 million in May. Street had expected existing home sales to surge up by 1.7 percent to a rate of 5.90 million from the 5.80 million originally reported for the previous month. Besides, the modestly higher close on markets reflected recent upward momentum, as stocks continued to recover from the sell-off on Monday. The advance seen over the past few days more than offset the sell-off to start the week, although the major averages remain below the record closing highs set last Monday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.35 points or 0.07 percent to 34,823.35, Nasdaq gained 52.64 points or 0.36 percent to 14,684.6 and S&P 500 was up by 8.79 points or 0.2 percent to 4,367.48.

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