The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,827.36 on Thursday with a gain of 92.39 points or 0.36%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,130.01 for a gain of 14.15 points or 0.45%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,207.63 for a gain of 53.00 points or 0.52%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 27.77 for a loss of 0.85 points or -2.97%.
For the week, the Nasdaq gained 4.6%, the S&P 500 gained 4.0% and the Dow Jones gained 3.3%. For the year, the Nasdaq has a gain of 13.76%, the S&P 500 is down 3.12% and the Dow Jones has a loss of 9.82%.
Thursday’s market movers
U.S. indexes closed with gains on Thursday, ending a shortened holiday week for the Fourth of July. Investors were focused on the June jobs report. Jobs report data included the following:
- Non-farm payrolls increased by 4.8 million, up from the previous month’s 2.699 million and beating the estimate of 2.9 million.
- The unemployment rate fell to 11.1%, down from 13.3%, and also beat the estimate of 12.3%.
- Private nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.767 million.
- The participation rate increased to 61.5% from 60.8%.
- Manufacturing payrolls increased by 356,000.
- Government payrolls increased by 33,000.
- Average hourly earnings decreased by 1.2% in June and increased by 5% year over year.
- Average weekly hours were basically unchanged at 34.5 compared to 34.7.
In other news:
- Coronavirus case reports topped the single day record of 50,000 on Wednesday.
- The balance of trade report showed a deficit of $54.6 billion in May, following the previous report of -$49.8 billion. Exports were $144.5 billion and imports were $199.1 billion.
- Around 1.427 million Americans applied for jobless claims, down from the previous week’s 1.482 million. Continuing jobless claims increased to 19.290 million from 19.231 million.
- Factory orders increased 8% in May, following a decrease of 13.5%. Factory orders excluding transportation increased 2.6%.
- The ISM New York Index improved to 39.5 from 19.5.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.115% and eight-week bills at a rate of 0.135%.
- The Baker Hughes North American oil rig count increased to 281 from 278.
In the S&P 500, materials and energy led gains. In the S&P 100, the following stocks led gains:
- ConocoPhillips (COP, Financial) 2.7%
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, Financial) 2.64%
- Qualcomm (QCOM, Financial) 2.41%
- Pfizer (PFE, Financial) 2.32%
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY, Financial) 2.13%
- DuPont (DD, Financial) 2.1%
- Alphabet (GOOGL, Financial) 2.07%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,431.86 for a gain of 4.55 points or 0.32%. The S&P 600 closed at 823.95 for a gain of 4.13 points or 0.50%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 9,980.22 for a gain of 36.55 points or 0.37%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 6,789.82 for a gain of 17.19 points or 0.25%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,778.95 for a gain of 8.27 points or 0.47%; the S&P 100 at 1,442.95 for a gain of 5.73 points or 0.40%; the Nasdaq 100 at 10,341.89 for a gain of 62.64 points or 0.61%; the Russell 3000 at 1,826.04 for a gain of 8.62 points or 0.47%; the Russell 1000 at 1,735.07 for a gain of 8.35 points or 0.48%; the Wilshire 5000 at 31,900.16 for a gain of 141.74 points or 0.45%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 576.29 for a gain of 3.20 points or 0.56%.
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