U.S. Market Indexes Higher on Thursday with Positive Retail Reports

U.S. market indexes were higher on Thursday. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18613.52 for a gain of 117.86 points, or 0.64%. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2185.79 for a gain of 10.30 points, or 0.47%. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5228.40 for a gain of 23.81 points, or 0.46%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 11.80 for a loss of -0.25 points, or -2.07%.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average the following stocks led gains:

Nike (NKE, Financial) 2.90%

Merck (MRK, Financial) 1.58%

Chevron (CVX, Financial) 1.26%

3M (MMM, Financial) 1.22%

American Express (AXP, Financial) 1.14%

Jobless claims and international trade prices were the leading reports on the economic calendar for Thursday. Jobless claims decreased by 1,000 to 266,000. Import and export prices were both higher in July. Import prices increased 0.1% and export prices increased 0.2% for the month. Year over year, both import and export prices are down. Import prices are down 3.7% and export prices are down 3%. Also on Thursday, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed consumer confidence down slightly. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index reading was 41.8, down from 43 in the previous month.

Retail and department store earnings will be in focus in the next few days. Reports from the retail industry were mostly positive on Thursday. In the industry, a focus still continues to remain on ecommerce and the consumers’ demand for buying online.

On Thursday, Macy’s (M, Financial) was a leading retail company reporting second quarter earnings. Macy's beat estimates for both revenue and earnings per share. Revenue for the quarter was $5.87 billion, down -3.8% from the comparable quarter and beating estimates by $130 million. Earnings per share for the quarter were 54 cents, beating estimates by nine cents.

In a CNBC report following the company’s earnings release, Terry Lundgren, Macy’s Chief Executive Officer, had the following comments about the company’s quarter and the retail industry overall.

Disclosure: I do not own any stocks included in this article.

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