The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 31,055.86 on Thursday with a gain of 332.26 points or 1.08%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,871.74 for a gain of 41.57 points or 1.09%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,777.74 for a gain of 167.20 points or 1.23%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 21.77 for a loss of 1.14 points or -4.98%.
Thursday's Market Movers
U.S. indexes ended with strong gains Thursday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones reported a fourth consecutive day of gains.
On the earnings calendar:
- Merck (MRK, Financial): Revenue of $12.51 billion increased 5.4% year over year and missed estimates by $140 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of -$0.83 missed estimates by $1.88 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.32 missed estimates by $0.07.
- Peloton Interactive (PTON, Financial): Revenue of $1.06 billion increased 127.3% year over year and beat estimates by $30 million. Q2 GAAP EPS of $0.18 beat estimates by $0.10.
- Ford Motor (F, Financial): Revenue of $36 billion decreased -9.3% year over year. Q4 GAAP EPS of -$0.70 missed estimates by $0.44 and non-GAAP EPS of $0.34 beat estimates by $0.43.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- 779,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, down from the previous week's 812,000. Jobless claims reported their third consecutive week of declines. Continuing jobless claims were 4.592 million, down from 4.785 million.
- The Productivity and Costs Report was released. Unit labor costs increased 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Nonfarm productivity decreased -4.8% in the fourth quarter.
- Factory orders increased 1.1% in December following an increase of 1.3%. Factory orders excluding transportation increased 1.4%.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.030% and eight-week bills at a rate of 0.035%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.73%, unchanged from the previous week. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.21%, up from 2.20%.
Across the board:
- PayPal (PYPL, Financial) 7.36%
- Peloton (PTON, Financial) 7.04%
- eBay (EBAY, Financial) 5.31%
- Moderna (MRNA, Financial) 4.49%
- The S&P 500 materials sector reported a loss of -0.36%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Financial) gained 0.93% on news that it is applying for emergency vaccine authorization
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,202.42 for a gain of 42.72 points or 1.98%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,238.28 for a gain of 20.69 points or 1.70%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 15,321.47 for a gain of 282.34 points or 1.88%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,769.60 for a gain of 159.32 points or 1.66%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,452.33 for a gain of 33.44 points or 1.38%; the S&P 100 at 1,783.94 for a gain of 18.90 points or 1.07%; the Nasdaq 100 at 13,560.89 for a gain of 158.52 points or 1.18%; the Russell 3000 at 2,337.50 for a gain of 27.56 points or 1.19%; the Russell 1000 at 2,193.79 for a gain of 24.62 points or 1.13%; the Wilshire 5000 at 40,823.96 for a gain of 470.51 points or 1.17%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 720.79 for a gain of 7.47 points or 1.05%.
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