Stocks rallied on Thursday as lawmakers reached a deal to increase the U.S. debt ceiling for now, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 300 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose about 0.85% and 1%, respectively, by the end of the trading session.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.83% or +36.21 points to 4,399.76
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.98% or +337.95 points to 34,754.94
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.05% or +152.10 points 14,654.02
Pfizer and BioNTech seek FDA approval of COVID vaccine for children:
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) announced Thursday that they submitted data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek emergency use authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5- to 11-years-old.
The U.S. health regulator had previously set an advisory committee meeting date on Oct. 26 to discuss the use of the two-dose mRNA-based vaccine in children. The FDA has fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in individuals aged 16 years and older, and has given an emergency use authorization for adolescents between the ages of 12- to 15-years-old.
Jobless claims fall at lower-than-expected rate last week:
New weekly unemployment claims came in at a lower-than-expected rate last week, as labor market impacts like the Delta variant and Hurricane Ida began to ease.
Initial jobless claims totaled 326,000 for the week ended Oct. 2, according to the Labor Department's latest report published Thursday, coming below the previous week's upwardly revised print of 364,000.
Meanwhile, continuing jobless claims totaled 2.714 million for the week ended Sept. 25, reaching the lowest level since March 2020. That total was also below the previous week's upwardly revised level of 2.811 million.
Here's how benchmarks started trading soon after opening bell:
S&P 500 Index: +0.95% or +37.28 points to 4,405.18
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.07% or +372.34 points to 34,789.33
Nasdaq Composite Index: +1.04% or +150.61 points to 14,652.31