US markets end with gains of over one and half percent on Thursday

03 Nov 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended with gains of over one and half percent on Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed left interest rates unchanged for the third time in the past four meetings, leading to optimism that the central bank is done raising interest rates. Treasury yields moved notably lower on Wednesday and showed another significant move to the downside Thursday, adding to the buying interest. The latest economic data added to the optimism about rates, with the Labor Department releasing a report showing an unexpected uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 28th.

The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 217,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000. Street had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week. A separate report from the Labor Department also showed an unexpected decrease in unit labor costs in the third quarter. The Labor Department said unit labor costs fell by 0.8 percent in the third quarter after shooting up by a revised 3.2 percent in the second quarter. On the sectoral front, banking stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, resulting in a 4.5 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index. Interest rate-sensitive housing also saw substantial strength on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging by 3.4 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 564.5 points or 1.7 percent to 33,839.08, Nasdaq surged 232.72 points or 1.78 percent to 13,294.19 and S&P 500 was up by 79.92 points or 1.89 percent to 4,317.78. 


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