Stocks pushed higher on Thursday after the Labor Department's weekly unemployment claims came under consensus expectations and quarterly earnings resulted in some better-than-expected results. All three major market benchmarks gained, with the Nasdaq closing above 11,000 for the first time ever as investors bought into the ongoing tech rally. Yet, real market growth in hinging on more coronavirus economic relief from the federal government, which has reach a lockup in Congress over key issues. The eventual stimulus decision will help give more direction to the market's future and economic recovery.

On Thursday, the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report totaled a less-than-expected 1.186 million for the week ended August 1, down from the prior week's 1.435 million. Continuing unemployment claims also fell from the previous week, with the week ended July 25 dropping to 16.107 million from the week before's 16.951 million. Although the numbers are better than predicted, it remains above 1 million for the twentieth week in a row, or since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic economic crisis.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.64% or +21.41 points to 3,349.18

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.68% or +185.46 points to 27,386.98

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.00% or +109.67 to 11,108.07

For Major Stock News, big tech climbed higher on Thursday amid market anxiety, with Amazon (AMZN  ), Apple (AAPL  ) and Facebook (FB  ) all closing at record highs. Google (GOOGL  ) and Microsoft (MSFT  ) also led the broader market higher.

For Stock Sector Performance, most industries gained on Thursday, with only Energy -0.71% , Health Care -0.57%, Materials -0.43% and Financials -0.15% falling behind. The positive performance gains were as follows: Communication Services +2.45%, Information Technology +1.46%, Utilities +0.52%, Consumer Discretionary +0.50%, Industrials +0.32%, Real Estate +0.09% and Consumer Staples +0.02%.

For Commodity and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) rose slightly on Thursday, but still has a lot of ground to cover to pare July's losses. The dollar index increased 0.3% against other currencies after U.S. unemployment data was better than expected. Crude oil prices pushed towards five-month highs on the better economic news, but gains still remain stunted by ongoing coronavirus cases. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed slightly to $45.25 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) slipped 0.57% to settle at $41.95. Gold (GLD  ) remains the only major commodity extending gains on Thursday, with spot gold touching a fresh high of $2,069.21 per ounce before settling up 0.8% at $2,055.87. Gold futures also increased by 1% to $2,069.40 per ounce.

For Friday, the market's direction will be determined by the Labor Department's July jobs report due to lack of direction from Washington's new economic stimulus package.