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U.S. stocks were rising on Thursday after weekly jobless claims came in lower than expected.
Shortly after the open, the
was up 252 points, or 0.7%. The
rose 0.3%, while the
was little changed.
The Labor Department reported initial jobless claims of 406,000, compared with expectations of 425,000. Claims are at a new pandemic low, continuing a recent downward trend.
“Jobless claims have been slowly declining and could receive a bit more attention this morning given the importance of the upcoming jobs report for the Fed’s decision to taper asset purchases,” writes Citigroup economist
Andrew Hollenhorst.
If the U.S. adds jobs at a fast pace—a potential driver of inflation — the Federal Reserve may soon taper, or reduce the size of, its bond purchasing program. That would lower bond prices and lift their yields. Higher bond yields erode the value of future cash flows, which would reduce stock valuations. The Fed has indicated it may soon discuss tapering.
Easing lockdown restrictions sent Filipino stocks surging, while most major bourses traded in a tight range on Thursday.
The
index rose more than 5% in Manila as the country begins to roll back Covid-19 lockdowns, though the country’s president,
Rodrigo Duterte,
warned he will jail village leaders and police officers who don’t enforce restrictions.
The rest of Asia put in a mixed performance, with the
easing 0.3% in Tokyo and the
slipping 0.2%, while the
rose 0.4%.
The
rose 0.4%.
There is a big slate of U.S. economic data on Thursday, including a second look at first-quarter gross domestic product, though investors may be waiting for Friday’s release of personal income and personal-consumption expenditures price inflation data.
“It seems that market participants stayed relatively indecisive ahead of tomorrow’s release of the core PCE index, which is the Fed’s favorite inflation metric,” said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group.
(ticker: F) stock gained 2.7% after getting upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets. This came after key electric-vehicle announcements Wednesday.
(DLTR) stock fell 6.3% after reporting a profit of $1.60 a share for its latest quarter, beating forecasts for $1.04. It posted sales of $6.48 billion, above expectations for $6.43 billion.
(OXY) stock gained 2.7% after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
(NVDA) stock was down 0.7% after reporting a profit of $3.66 a share, beating forecasts for $3.28 a share, on sales of $5.66 billion, above expectations for $5.41 billion.
(WSM) fell 3.5% even as the home-furnishings retailer hiked its annual earnings outlook following a stronger-than-forecast jump in profits during the first quarter.
(OKTA) fell 10.2% as the identity-management software company forecast a wider loss than anticipated and announced the departure of its chief financial officer.
(SNOW) shares dropped 4.1% after the database software maker reported a doubling of quarterly losses.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
