US markets end higher on Thursday

03 Mar 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, shrugging off early losses as commentary from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic appeared to help lift stocks in afternoon trading. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic on Thursday said he was firmly in support of a 25 basis point rate increase at the Fed’s late-March policy meeting, and that the central bank could be in a position to pause rate hikes by the summer. Bostic said ‘I am still very much of a mindset that slow and steady is going to be the appropriate course of action.’ The turnaround have also reflected bargain hunting, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 bouncing off their lowest intraday levels in over a month. On the sectoral front, oil service stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.1 percent. The rally by oil service stocks came amid an increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for April delivery climbing $0.47 to $78.16 a barrel.

Substantial strength also emerged among software stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent jump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. The index bounced off its lowest closing level in a month. On the economic data front, a report released by the Labor Department unexpectedly showed a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 25th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 190,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 192,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 195,000. Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 193,000, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 191,250.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 341.73 points or 1.05 percent to 33,003.57, Nasdaq surged 83.5 points or 0.73 percent to 11,462.98 and S&P 500 was up by 29.96 points or 0.76 percent to 3,981.35.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×