Wall Street ended Thursday's session with major benchmarks in positive territory despite a more-than-expected increase in unemployment reported in the morning. Investors kept their attention steady on mega-cap tech stocks--Amazon (AMZN  ), Apple (AAPL  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Netflix (NFLX  )--as the Nasdaq continued to outperform; the market looked for direction follow the Federal Reserve's weaker economic outlook and a stagnant U.S. job market recovery.

The Labor Department's weekly unemployment report for the week ended August 15 showed that 1.106 million Americans filed for benefits, well above consensus estimates of about 920,000. With unemployment trends stabilizing, the U.S. economic recovery many take longer than perviously expected. Congressional lawmakers are still in a stalemate over a new stimulus package, leaving the economies' outlook even more fragile. To make matters even more uncertain, the enhanced unemployment benefits of $600 per week that was meant to act as a safety net against poverty has expired, with no true replacement in site for the short-term.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.32% or +10.68 points to 3,385.53

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.17% or +46.98 points to 27,739.86

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.06% or +118.49 points to 11,264.95

For Major Stock News, Tesla (TSLA  ) shares rose above the $2,000 mark for the first time ahead of the stock's 5:1 split. Shares of the newly public biotech CureVac soared after the company announced it was in advanced talk to with European Commission to purchase over 400 million doses of CureVac's potential COVID-19 vaccine. Uber (UBER  ) and Lyft (LYFT  ) received a reprieve from a Californian appeals court late in the trading day, extending the time the two will have to comply with the new ruling that contract workers must become employees in the state.

For Sector Performance, most industries remained negative throughout Thursday's session, with only Information Technology +1.44%, Communication Services +1.37%, Real Estate +1.08%, and Consumer Discretionary +0.14% gainings. The remaining sectors declined: Energy -2.13%, Financials -0.89%, Utilities -0.89%, Industrials -0.48%, Materials -0.42%, Health Care -0.29%, Consumer Staples -0.25%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) gained over 1% against other global currencies following more-than-expected jobless claims on Thursday. Crude oil prices fell due to the weaker economic recovery and demand outlook. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) slipped 2.7% to price at $44.13 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) declined 0.82% to settle at $42.58 per barrel. Gold (GLD  ) prices recovered from Wednesday's fall on Thursday, with spot gold increasing 0.6% to $1,940.14 per ounce, while futures settled down 1.2% at $1,946.50 per ounce.

"The [Federal Open Market Committee] minutes reiterated the need for people to own gold, they were still concerned about the coronavirus and its impact on the economy, that shows they want to stay accommodative and help consumers stay afloat," said Michale Matousek, head trade at U.S. Global Investors, according to Reuters.

As the market heads into Friday, investors will turn their attention to U.S. existing home sales data, as well as quarterly earnings from companies Deere (DE  ).