WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks saw considerable volatility early in the session on Thursday but moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day. The major averages all finished the day in positive territory, with the Dow posting a standout gain.
The Dow jumped 461.88 points or 1.1 percent to 43,870.35 and the S&P 500 climbed 31.60 points or 0.5 percent to 5,948.71, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a much more modest gain, inching up 6.28 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 18,972.42.
The sharp increase by the Dow came amid strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW) and Salesforce (CRM).
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session as traders tracked the performance of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA). Shares of Nvidia fluctuated as the day progressed before eventually ending the day up by 0.5 percent.
Nvidia reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues, but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth and a quarter-on-quarter decline by gross margins.
A steep drop by shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) limited the upside for the Nasdaq on news the Justice Department has urged a federal judge to force a sale of the Google parent's Chrome web browser.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week.
The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 213,000 in the week ended November 16th, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 217,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 209,000 in the week ended April 27th.
Meanwhile, a reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by slightly more than expected in the month of October, the Conference Board revealed in a separate report.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index slid by 0.4 percent in October after dipping by a revised 0.3 percent in September.
Economists had expected the leading economic index to fall by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.
'Apart from possible temporary impacts of hurricanes, the US LEI continued to suggest challenges to economic activity ahead,' said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks showed a strong move back to the upside following yesterday's pullback, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring by 4.2 to its best closing level in a month.
A sharp increase by the price of crude oil also contributed to substantial strength among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent surge by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.
Networking stocks also showed a significant move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.9 percent.
Utilities, banking, and natural gas also saw considerable strength, while some weakness was visible among airline stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 percent, although China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries moved lower over the course of the session after showing a lack of direction in early trading, Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.6 basis points to 4.432 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading activity on Friday may be somewhat subdued amid a relatively quiet day in terms of U.S. economic news.
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