Stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 notching a new record high and the Nasdaq outperforming as FAANG tech names rallied higher. However, investors were slightly uneased by a worse-than-expected unemployment claims report, but the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy continued to encourage economic recovery outlooks.
New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week, according to the Labor Department, reaching its highest level in three weeks despite labor market strength seen throughout the week. New claims totaled 744,000 for the week ended April 3, up from last week's upwardly revised 728,000 for the previous week. Continuing unemployment claims also trended higher at 3.734 million, but the prior week's claims were downwardly revised to 3.75 million.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Stocks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that his state is suing the Biden administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow the U.S. cruise line industry to restart immediately. Affected stocks include Carnival
For Sector Performance, sectors ended the muted session mostly higher, with Information Technology
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For Friday, investors don't have much direction to look forward too, but trades are likely to be focused on next week's start to the first quarter earnings season.