US markets end higher on Thursday

15 Dec 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, magnifying their previous session’s rallies, after the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in U.S. retail sales in November. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.3 percent in November after slipping by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent. Street had expected retail sales to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the dip originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales inched up by 0.2 percent in November after coming in unchanged in October. Ex-auto sales were expected to slip by 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a separate report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the week ended December 9th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 202,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. Street had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week. On the BSE sectoral front, Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 5.8 percent to a record closing high. Substantial strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 5.1 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index. The index reached its best closing level in over nine months. Oil service stocks also moved sharply higher along with the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surging by 4.4 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 158.11 points or 0.43 percent to 37,248.35, Nasdaq surged 27.59 points or 0.19 percent to 14,761.56 and S&P 500 was up by 12.46 points 0.26 percent to 4,719.55.


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