Wall Street rally amid fall in unemployment claims

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose and closed near its day’s high. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 continues to rise, while the Nasdaq composite lagged behind, though it eventually recovered and closed in the green. Predictions are that the stock market rally on Friday will be heavily influenced by the June jobs report.

Breakdown of market activity

The Nasdaq ended the day with a 0.1% gain, while S&P 500 index was up 0.5%. The Dow Jones industrials, on the other hand, gained 0.4%. The small-cap Russell 2000 index led the way up, rising 0.9%. According to early data, volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq was lower than it was at the closing on Wednesday.

On Thursday, oil equities outperformed, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) jumping about 2% and still 4% off fresh highs. For the first time since October 2018, crude oil prices in the United States increased by more than 2% to slightly above $75 a barrel. The OPEC+ group is meeting to discuss ways to fulfill fast-rising oil demand while the economy continues to recover. Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to increase output by 2 million barrels per day in the short term.

Chevron (CVX), which was up 1.4% in the Dow Jones on Thursday, was another stock that outperformed. With a rise of 2.3%, Nike (NKE) was also among the top gainers.

US jobs report

The revelation of stronger-than-expected GDP figures early Thursday buoyed markets. Last week, requests for unemployment benefits plummeted by 51,000 to 364,000, a new record low, according to the Labor Department. Another epidemic low was reached when the four-week moving average fell by 6,000 points from the previous week. Unemployment claims are still higher than they were before the outbreak.

Economists anticipate a 675,000 increase in payrolls in June, following a 599,000 increase in May. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 5.7%.

Employers are raising wages significantly, yet they are still having difficulty filling open positions. One concern is whether more Americans were driven to look for jobs when numerous states announced that extra unemployment benefits would be phased out as of July 1.



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