The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 34,035.99 on Thursday with a gain of 305.10 points or 0.90%. The S&P 500 closed at 4,170.42 for a gain of 45.76 points or 1.11%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 14,038.76 for a gain of 180.92 points or 1.31%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 16.57 for a loss of 0.42 points or -2.47%.
Thursday's Market Movers
U.S. stocks rebounded after Wednesday's down close. Technology led gains with the Nasdaq Composite up 1.31% and the S&P 500 technology sector up 1.72%.
March retail sales beat economists' expectations with help from stimulus spending. In March, retail sales increased 9.8% following a decrease of -2.7% and beating the estimate of 4.5%. Retail sales excluding autos increased 8.4%. Year over year, retail sales were up 27.7% following a 6.7% increase in February and beating the estimate of 7.9%.
Earnings reports on the calendar included:
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial): Revenue of $70.2 billion increased 9.0% year over year and beat estimates by $1.1 billion. Q1 GAAP EPS of $5.08 beat estimates by $0.88 and non-GAAP EPS of $5.31 beat estimates by $0.92. UnitedHealth stock gained 3.83%.
- Bank of America (BAC, Financial): Revenue of $22.82 billion increased 0.2% year over year and beat estimates by $960 million. Q1 GAAP EPS of $0.86 beat estimates by $0.20.
- Citigroup (C, Financial): Revenue of $19.3 billion decreased -6.9% year over year and beat estimates by $430 million. Q1 GAAP EPS of $3.62 beat estimates by $1.03.
In other news:
- Gary Gensler became the new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.
- 576,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, down from 769,000 in the previous week and also a pandemic low. Continuing jobless claims were 3.731 million, up from 3.727 million.
- The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index increased to 26.3 in April from 17.4.
- The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased to 50.2 in April from 44.5.
- Business inventories increased 0.5% in February following an increase of 0.4%.
- The Federal Reserve released its Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report. Industrial production increased 1.4% in March following a decrease of -2.6%. Year over year, industrial production increased 1% following a -4.8% decrease. Manufacturing production increased 2.7% following a decrease of -3.7%. Year over year, manufacturing production increased 3.1% following a decrease of -4.7%. Capacity utilization improved to 74.4% from 73.4%.
- The NAHB Housing Market Index increased to 83 in April from 82.
- The February Treasury International Capital report was released. Overall net capital flows were $72.6 billion, foreign bond investment was -$65.5 billion, and net long-term Treasury international capital flows were $4.2 billion.
- The Treasury held auctions for 4-week bills at a rate of 0.010% and 8-week bills at a rate of 0.015%.
- Freddie Mac released its weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.04%, down from 3.13%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.35%, down from 2.42%.
Across the board:
- The S&P 500 financial sector decreased -0.09%
- Prism Technologies (PRZM, Financial) +95.08%
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Financial) +5.68%
- Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) +5.63%
- MoneyGram (MGI, Financial) +5.09% with high for cross border transactions.
- Novocure (NVCR, Financial) +6.90% on lung cancer treatment developments.
- Verizon (VZ, Financial) expanded its 5G business offering to 21 locations.
- Shareholders approved a Tilray (TLRY, Financial) and Aphria (APHA, Financial) merger.
- Amazon (AMZN, Financial) +1.38% with Jeff Bezos' final shareholder letter.
- Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) =0.29%
- Pfizer (PFE) +1.18% with executive comments that an annual Covid-19 vaccine booster shot may be needed.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,257.07 for a gain of 9.35 points or 0.42%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,343.89 for a gain of 4.53 points or 0.34%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 15,035.04 for a gain of 106.27 points or 0.71%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 11,081.89 for a gain of 20.60 points or 0.19%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,700.28 for a gain of 19.69 points or 0.73%; the S&P 100 at 1,902.12 for a gain of 22.70 points or 1.21%; the Nasdaq 100 at 14,026.19 for a gain of 222.28 points or 1.61%; the Russell 3000 at 2,499.02 for a gain of 26.99 points or 1.09%; the Russell 1000 at 2,352.80 for a gain of 26.54 points or 1.14%; the Wilshire 5000 at 43,658.83 for a gain of 470.35 points or 1.09%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 837.67 for a gain of 3.85 points or 0.46%.
Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.
