The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,425.51 on Thursday with a gain of 122.05 points or 0.43%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,446.83 for a gain of 27.38 points or 0.80%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,420.98 for a gain of 56.38 points or 0.50%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 26.36 for a loss of 1.70 points or -6.06%.
Thursday's Market Movers
U.S. indexes posted a second day of closing gains after President Trump retracted comments on fully halting stimulus negotiations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says efforts are currently targeting aid for the airline sector.
Among biotech companies, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN, Financial) gained 1.38% after announcing a request for emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 drug REGN-COV2. Eli Lilly (LLY, Financial) also requested emergency use approval for a Covid-19 drug that treats patients with relatively mild symptoms.
Across sectors, the S&P 500 energy sector led gains for the day with a return of 3.75%. Oil prices gained and shares of Exxon (XOM, Financial) gained 5.22%.
In other news:
- 840,000 Americans filed jobless claims, down from the previous week's 849,000. Continuing jobless claims were 10.976 million, down from 11.979 million.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.090%, eight-week bills at a rate of 0.090% and 30-year bonds at a rate of 1.578%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87%, down from 2.88%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.37%, up from 2.36%.
- Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) announced the acquisition of investment manager Eaton Vance (EV, Financial).
- Square (SQ, Financial) gained 1.84% on the announcement of a $50 million bitcoin investment.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,628.55 for a gain of 17.51 points or 1.09%. The S&P 600 closed at 922.07 for a gain of 13.58 points or 1.49%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 11,430.28 for a gain of 99.22 points or 0.88%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 7,413.69 for a gain of 125.63 points or 1.72%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,991.54 for a gain of 20.42 points or 1.04%; the S&P 100 at 1,587.73 for a gain of 9.93 points or 0.63%; the Nasdaq 100 at 11,550.94 for a gain of 47.75 points or 0.42%; the Russell 3000 at 2,029.89 for a gain of 16.46 points or 0.82%; the Russell 1000 at 1,926.07 for a gain of 15.30 points or 0.80%; the Wilshire 5000 at 35,417.98 for a gain of 288.82 points or 0.82%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 623.12 for a gain of 10.19 points or 1.66%.
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