Stocks rose on Thursday as the Federal Reserve kicked off its annual Jackson Hole economic symposium, with investors waiting for more clues on the central bank's next moves. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 300 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.42% or +58.75 points to 4,199.52
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.98% or +324.43 points to 33,293.66
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.67% or +207.74 points to 12,639.27
Investors will be listening for more information out of the Fed's gathering in Wyoming, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell sent to deliver remarks on Friday that may indicate whether the central bank's next policy announcement will result in another 75 point rate hike or a more milder 50 point one.
For economic news, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed Q2 economic activity in the United States contracted less than initially estimated. The institution's second estimate reported a contraction at a 0.6% annualized rate during the quarter, less than the 0.9% reported last month.
Separately, the Labor Department reported 243,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the week ended August 20, below estimates and down 2,000 from the previous week. Moreover, the previous week's total was also revised lower to 245,000 from 250,000.
For stocks, Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) was trading lower on Thursday after company reported an operating loss of more than $1 billion in Q4. The results mark six straight quarters of reported losses for the fitness equipment company.
Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) jumped 20% after posting a revenue beat for its Q2. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares rose despite the chipmaker missing Wall Street estimates for its Q2 and lowering its guidance as analysts predict the stock's rout may be bottoming.
Meanwhile, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) slid nearly 4% after the company gave weaker-than-expected Q3 and full-year guidance on earnings and revenue. For Q3, Salesforce expects adjusted earnings of $1.20 to $1.21 per share and revenue between $7.82 billion to $7.83 billion. For its full-year, the company now expects adjusted earnings of $4.71 to $4.73 and $30.9 billion to $31 billion in revenue.
"Sales cycles can get stretched, deals are inspected by higher levels of management and all of this we bean to start to see in July," CEO Marc Benioff said during an earnings call. "Nearly everyone I've talked to is taking a more measured approach to their business. We expect these trends to continue in the near term, and we've reflected this in out guidance."
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares dipped on Thursday after the electric vehicle maker executed its 3-for-1 stock split after closing bell on Wednesday. The move comes two year after its previous 5-for-1 stock split.
Looking ahead, market participants are anticipating data on July's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) out Friday morning. The PCE report is one of the Fed's preferred inflation measures and could influence its actions moving forward to combat inflation.