US markets end higher as producer prices rise more than expected

14 Feb 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended in green on Thursday after first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by slightly more than expected in the week ended February 8th, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 213,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000. Street had expected jobless claims to slip to 215,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week. Further, markets traded higher even after the Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose by 0.4 percent in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in December. Street had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of producer price growth in January was unchanged from an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in December. The annual rate of producer price growth was expected to slow to 3.2 percent from the 3.3 percent originally reported for the previous month. The bigger than expected monthly increase by producer prices partly reflected sharply higher food and energy prices, which shot up by 1.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. Besides, as traders took a note on report that US President Donald Trump unveiled a roadmap for charging reciprocal tariffs on every country that charges duties on U.S. imports.  On the sectoral front, Computer hardware stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring by 4.5 percent to its highest closing level in almost seven months. Significant strength was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent surge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. With the jump, the index reached a two-month closing high.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 342.87 points or 0.77 percent to 44,711.43, Nasdaq surged 295.69 points or 1.5 percent to 19,945.64 and S&P 500 was up by 63.1 points or 1.04 percent to 6,115.07. 


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