US markets end mostly higher on Thursday

19 Nov 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday as traders reacted to mixed earnings news from some big-name companies. Retail stocks saw significant strength on the day following upbeat results from companies like Macy's, BJ's Wholesale and Kohl's, driving the Dow Jones US Retail Index up by 2.1 percent to a record closing high. Chipmaker Nvidia also helped to lead the semiconductor sector higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.8 percent. The index also reached a new record closing high. Shares of Nvidia surged up by 8.3 percent after the company reported better than expected third quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for US unemployment benefits were nearly unchanged in the week ended November 13th. The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 268,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 269,000. Street had expected jobless claims to dip to 260,000 from the 267,000 originally reported for the previous week. With the slight decrease and the revision to the previous week's number, jobless claims once again hit their lowest level since the week ended March 14, 2020.

Nasdaq rose 72.14 points or 0.45 percent to 15,993.71 and S&P 500 was up by 15.87 points or 0.34 to 4,704.54, while Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60.1 points or 0.17 percent to 35,870.95.

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