Stocks rose higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 notching a fresh closing high, as traders rallied behind two blowout earnings reports from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), as well as other positive U.S. economic data reports.
The United States' first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) reached an annualized rate of 6.4%, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Traders took this as a sign that the U.S. economy started the year off with accelerated commercial activity, which is good for recovery.
Meanwhile, new weekly unemployment claims dropped to a new pandemic low of 553,000 for the week ended April 24, according to the Labor Department's new report. While the total was slightly higher than expected, it was still below the previous week. Continuing jobless claims, however, unexpectedly rose higher for the week ended April 17, totalling 3.660 million from the prior week's downwardly revised 3.651 million.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.68% or +28.43 points to 4,211.61
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.72% or +242.22 points to 34,062.60
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.22% or +31.52 points to 14,082.55
For Stocks, shares of Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) dropped on Thursday after Reuters reported that President Joe Biden's Labor Secretary Marty Walsh supports reclassifying gig workers as employees.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended mostly higher with the blue-chip index, with only Information Technology (NYSE: XLK) and Health Care (NYSE: XLV) falling into the red. Gains were lead by Communication Services (NYSE: XLC), Financials (NYSE: XLF), Energy (NYSE: XLE) and Consumer Staples (NYSE: XLP).
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) was lifted higher on Thursday by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields following strong U.S. economic data. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six other currencies, was up 0.1% at 90.596 in afternoon trading. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices ended the session lower on the rising dollar, with gold futures for June settling down 0.3% at $1,768.30 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose to a fresh six-week high on Thursday on the back of strong U.S. economic data, but global demand fears kept gains in check. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) climbed 1.9% higher at $68.56 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) settled up 1.8% at $65.01 each.
For Friday, market participants will focus on a barrage of fresh economic data for March, including consumer spending, personal income, and core inflation, as well as April's final consumer sentiment index reading. Traders are also expected to react to Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) closing bell earnings report from Thursday.