US markets end higher on Thursday

16 Feb 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday with Dow Jones Industrial Average settling with gains of over 0.90 percent as a Commerce Department report showing a much bigger than expected decrease in U.S. retail sales in the month of January led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Commerce Department said retail sales slid by 0.8 percent in January after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in December. Street had expected retail sales to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales fell by 0.6 percent in January after rising by 0.4 percent in December. Ex-auto sales were expected to rise by 0.2 percent. The lower-than-forecast retail sales number could be viewed as a positive for those looking for an early rate cut. 

Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected decline in first-time claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended February 10th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 212,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000. Street had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week. on the sectoral front, Gold stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, resulting in a 3.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery climbing $10.60 to $2,014.90 an ounce.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 348.85 points or 0.91 percent to 38,773.12, Nasdaq rose 47.03 points or 0.3 percent to 15,906.17 and S&P 500 edged up 29.11 points or 0.58 percent to 5,029.73. 


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