The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 35,443.82 on Thursday with a gain of 131.29 points or 0.37%. The S&P 500 closed at 4,536.95 for a gain of 12.86 points or 0.28%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 15,331.18 for a gain of 21.80 points or 0.14%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 16.41 for a gain of 0.30 points or 1.86%.
Thursday’s market movers
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher Thursday, thanks in part to some improving labor market data. All three major indexes ended Thursday with gains after the S&P 500 showed a strong start to September on Wednesday.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined to 340,000 in the weekly report. Continuing jobless claims also fell to 2.748 million from 2.908 million. Yesterday ADP also released its August private sector jobs report, which is a precursor to the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report Friday. ADP showed 374,000 new private sector jobs in August, up from a gain of 326,000 in the previous report but just below the forecast of 500,000.
In other news:
- The balance of trade report for July showed a deficit of $70 billion, in line with the forecast. Exports were $212.8 billion and imports were $282.9 billion.
- Unit labor costs in the U.S. increased 1.3% in second-quarter 2021.
- Nonfarm labor productivity in the U.S. increased by 2.1% in second-quarter 2021.
- S. factory orders edged up 0.4% in July 2021, following an increase of 1.5%. Factory orders excluding transportation increased 0.80%.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.035% and eight-week bills at a rate of 0.065%.
- Total vehicle sales decreased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13.1 million from 14.6 million.
- Earnings announcements: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO, Financial), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE, Financial), Broadcom (AVGO, Financial) and Toro Co. (TTC, Financial).
Across the board:
- Sector funds leading gains for the day included the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE, Financial) with a gain of 2.56%, the Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX, Financial) with a gain of 2.44% and the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK, Financial) with a gain of 1.47%.
- EnSync (ESNC, Financial) climbed 245%.
- Trillion Energy International (TCFF, Financial) gained 0.95%.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, Financial) rose 2.96%.
- Dollar Tree (DLTR, Financial) was up 2.89%.
- Quanta Services (PWR, Financial) increased 12.08%.
- Baxter International (BAX, Financial) entered an agreement to acquire Hill-Rom Holdings. BAX gained 4.84%.
- The 10-year Treasury ended with a yield of 1.284%.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,304.02 for a gain of 16.96 points or 0.74%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,378.01 for a gain of 6.68 points or 0.49%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 15,585.78 for a gain of 123.02 points or 0.80%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 11,279.81 for a gain of 46.54 points or 0.41%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,773.83 for a gain of 13.61 points or 0.49%; the S&P 100 at 2,081.95 for a gain of 2.66 points or 0.13%; the Nasdaq 100 at 15,604.25 for a loss of 7.32 points or -0.047%; the Russell 3000 at 2,695.41 for a gain of 9.20 points or 0.34%; the Russell 1000 at 2,547.70 for a gain of 8.01 points or 0.32%; the Wilshire 5000 at 47,226.84 for a gain of 158.34 points or 0.34%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 853.52 for a gain of 7.54 points or 0.89%.
