The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,603.36 on Thursday with a gain of 300.19 points or 0.99%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,787.38 for a gain of 36.61 points or 0.98%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,337.16 for a gain of 66.56 points or 0.50%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 30.21 for a loss of 7.00 points or -18.81%.
Thursday's Market Movers
U.S. indexes rebounded from Wednesday's selloff, closing higher for the day. Earnings headlines continued:
- Dow (DOW, Financial): Revenue of $10.7 billion increased 4.9% year over year and beat estimates by $630 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.65 beat estimates by $0.96 and non-GAAP EPS of $0.81 beat estimates by $0.14.
- McDonald's (MCD, Financial): Revenue of $5.31 billion decreased -2.2% year over year and missed estimates by $40 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.84 beat estimates by $0.11 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.70 missed estimates by $0.07.
- Mastercard (MA, Financial): Revenue of $4.12 billion decreased -6.6% year over year and beat estimates by $110 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.78 beat estimates by $0.27 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.64 beat estimates by $0.12.
- Visa (V, Financial): Revenue of $5.7 billion decreased -5.8% year over year and beat estimates by $180 million. FQ1 GAAP EPS of $1.42. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.42 beat estimates by $0.14.
- American Airlines (AAL, Financial): Revenue of $4.03 billion decreased -64.4% year over year and beat estimates by $170 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of -$3.81 beat estimates by $0.07 and non-GAAP EPS of -$3.86 beat estimates by $0.27.
- Southwest Airlines (LUV, Financial): Revenue of $2.01 billion decreased -64.9% year over year and missed estimates by $100 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of -$1.54 beat estimates by $0.11 and non-GAAP EPS of -$1.29 beat estimates by $0.39.
- JetBlue Airways (JBLU, Financial): Revenue of $661 million decreased -67.4% year over year and beat estimates by $25.67 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of -$1.34 beat estimates by $0.30 and non-GAAP EPS of -$1.53 beat estimates by $0.13.
GameStop (GME, Financial) ended down, though it spiked to nearly $500 in afternoon trading. Several trading platforms halted trading on heavily shorted stocks.
In other news:
- The quarterly U.S. GDP report was released. GDP increased 4% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, following an increase of 33.4% and meeting economists' expectations. In 2020, GDP decreased -3.5%, following an increase of 2.2% in 2019.
- The U.S. goods trade balance was reported at -$82.47 billion.
- 847,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, down from 914,000. Continuing Jobless Claims were 4.771 million down from 4.974 million.
- Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in December.
- Retail inventories increased 1% in December.
- New home sales increased 1.6% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.842 million.
- The Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators Index increased 0.3% in December following an increase of 0.7%.
- The Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index increased to 22 in January from 12.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.055%, eight-week bills at a rate of 0.065% and seven-year notes at a rate of 0.754%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.73%, down from 2.77%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.20%, down from 2.21%.
Across the board:
- Square (SQ, Financial) gained 8.76% with increased cash transaction activities
- Booking Holdings (BKNG, Financial) gained 7.85%
- Semiconductors and financials led gains
- Pfizer (PFE, Financial) gained on positive results for Covid-19 variant vaccine efficiencies and more vaccine orders
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,106.61 for a loss of 2.09 points or -0.099%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,206.78 for a loss of 22.51 points or -1.83%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 14,640.53 for a gain of 25.06 points or 0.17%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,503.29 for a loss of 15.30 points or -0.16%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,388.21 for a gain of 20.95 points or 0.88%; the S&P 100 at 1,745.55 for a gain of 13.66 points or 0.79%; the Nasdaq 100 at 13,201.53 for a gain of 88.88 points or 0.68%; the Russell 3000 at 2,278.69 for a gain of 22.56 points or 1.00%; the Russell 1000 at 2,141.59 for a gain of 22.90 points or 1.08%; the Wilshire 5000 at 39,797.10 for a gain of 372.85 points or 0.95%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 706.34 for a gain of 2.50 points or 0.36%.
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