Stocks rose Thursday, putting Wall Street on track to snap a long run of weekly declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 500 points, climbing for the fifth day in a row, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 1.6% and 2.7%, respectively.
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 are both up over 4%, and the Nasdaq is up over 3%.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.99% or +79.21 points to 4,057.94
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.61% or +518.16 points to 32,638.44
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +2.68% or +305.91 points to 11,740.65
Pending home sales fall in April:
Pending home sales in the U.S. fell for a sixth consecutive month in April, according to the National Association of Realtors' report published Thursday.
The institution's Pending Home Sales Index fell 3.9% in April to 99.3. On an annual basis, the figure is down 9.1%.
"Pending contracts are telling, as they better reflect the timelier impact from higher mortgage rates than do closings," NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a press statement. "Home prices in the meantime appear in no danger of any meaningful decline."
Jobless claims remain low in tight labor market:
Jobless claims ticked lower in the latest weekly data, demonstrating the continued strength of the labor market amid high inflation and concerns over economic growth.
Initial unemployment claims totaled a less-than-expected 210,000 for the week ended May 21, according to the Labor Department's data published Thursday. The previous week, filings totals 218,000, marking the highest level since January.
Continuous jobless claims for the week ended May 14 totaled 1,346 million, up 31,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised print.
Weekly claims have remained near multi-decade lows throughout the first half of the year as the labor market remains tights. However, several retailers, including Target (NYSE: TGT) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT), have cut their outlooks and warned inflation is impacting profits, which could lead to impending layoffs.
Apple to raise pay for corporate, retail employees:
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) said late Wednesday it plans to raise pay for corporate and retail workers to better compete in the tightening labor market.
"Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers," a company representative said in a statement to CNBC. "This year as part of our annual performance review process, we're increasing our overall compensation budget."
The tech company sos also increasing starting wage for U.S. retail employees to $22 per hour, up from $20.
Here's how benchmarks started trading after market open:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.11% or +4.57 points to 3,984.60
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.41% or +131.48 points to 32,248.17
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.25% or -28.46 points to 11,409.84