WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday, with the major averages more than offsetting the downturn seen over the course of the previous session. The major averages surged early in the session and saw further upside as the day progressed.
The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq soared 464.22 points or 2.9 percent to 16,660.02, the Nasdaq spiked 119.81 points or 2.3 percent to 5,319.31 and the Dow jumped 683.04 points or 1.8 percent to 39,446.49.
The rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected in the week ended August 3rd.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 233,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level of to 250,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 249,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The bigger than expected decline came a week after jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 258,000 in the week ended August 5, 2023.
The data helped ease concerns about the strength of the labor market, which have contributed to recent selling on Wall Street.
'Initial jobless claims are taking center stage as economists and investors seek guidance from real-time indicators on the economy's health,' Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin.
'To us, the data suggest we're on track for a cooldown - not a recession,' he added. 'However, risks are tilted to the downside and the Fed should be vigilant for non-linearities as it maintains a restrictive policy stance.'
Among individual stocks, athletic apparel company Under Armour (UAA) skyrocketed by 19.2 percent after reporting an unexpected fiscal third quarter profit.
Eli Lilly (LLY) also moved sharply higher after the drug maker reported better than expected second quarter results and raised its full-year revenue guidance.
On the other hand, shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) slumped after the company reported disappointing second quarter results and announced a $9.1 billion write down tied to its TV networks.
Sector News
Networking stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, resulting in an 8.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
Substantial strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 6.9 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Shares of Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) soared by 13.3 percent after Raymond James upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Outperform from Market Perform.
Pharmaceutical stocks also saw considerable strength on the upbeat results from Eli Lilly, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index jumping by 3.6 percent.
Airline, computer hardware and biotechnology stocks also moved notably higher, while telecom stocks were among the few groups that bucked the upward trend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.7 percent, while South Korea's Kospi fell by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries extended their recent pullback in reaction to the initial jobless claims data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.9 basis points to 3.997 percent.
Looking Ahead
Amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to the latest corporate earnings news.
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