Stocks rose on Thursday, shaking off three consecutive days of losses, as FAANG stocks climbed higher, while the latest unemployment report boosted sentiment as jobless reached another pandemic low. Market participants, however, still remain uneasy as fears brew over rising inflation possibly leading the Federal Reserve to tighten its monetary policy sooner than previously expected.
All three benchmarks closed in the green at the end of the session, with the Nasdaq outperforming as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose over 2%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) climbed over 1%.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.06% or +43.47 points to 4,159.15
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.55% or +186.86 points to 34,082.90
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.77% or +236.00 points to 13,535.74
Fed to release discussion paper on potential U.S. digital currency this summer:
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the Fed plans to issue a discussion paper on the possibility of a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) this summer. The key focus of this digital currency will be to improve the current U.S. domestic payments system.
"We think it is important that any potential CBDC could serve as a complement to, and not a replacement of, cash and currency private-sector digital forms of the dollar, such as deposits at commercial banks," Powell said in a video message via Reuters. "The design of a CBDC would raise important monetary policy, financial stability, consumer protection, legal, and privacy considerations and will require careful thought and analysis, including input from the public and elected officials."
Here's how the market is trading Thursday afternoon:
S&P 500 Index: +1.12% or +46.19 points to 4,161.87
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.70% or +235.81 points to 34,131.85
Nasdaq Composite Index: +1.71% or +227.16 to 13,526.90
The U.S. Treasury Department plans to crackdown on cryptocurrency markets and transactions:
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced this it is taking steps to look into cryptocurrency markets and transactions, and will now require any transfer wrother $10,000 or more to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The department highlighted that it is concerned with digital currencies as their market capitalization has grown to $2 trillion. "Cryptocurrency already poses a significant detection problem by facilitating illegal activity broadly including tax evasion," the Treasury Department said in a release.
The announcement is part of President Joe Biden's plan to raise $700 billion in revenue over the current decade by beefing up the IRS, including doubling the size of the IRS workforce by hiring 87,000 additional employees by 2031.
Here's how the market started trading after opening bell:
S&P 500 Index: +0.22% or +9.22 points to 4,124.93
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.07% or +24.94 points to 33,920.98
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.54% or +72.21 points to 13,371.94
Jobless claims fall to a new pandemic low:
Initial unemployment claims for the week ended May 15 fell to a less-than-expected 444,000, the Department of Labor reported, down from the upwardly revised 478,000 from the week prior. This new report was the lowest level for initial claims since March 2020, when data clocked in at 256,000, according to Labor Department data.
Continuing jobless claims for the week ended May 8, however, rose to a more-than-expected 3.751 million, according to the Labor Department, up from the previous week's 3.655 million.