US stocks gain as jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week
- US stocks gained slightly on Thursday as investors cheered falling COVID-19 cases and encouraging economic data.
- Weekly jobless claims dropped to 779,000 last week, landing below forecasts and marking the third week of declines.
- GameStop, AMC, and other Reddit favorites wavered as day traders considered taking profits or piling further into the stocks.
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US equities edged higher on Thursday as COVID-19 case data and jobless claims showed progress in reaching a full economic recovery.
Investors added to the market's three-day winning streak as weekly filings for unemployment benefits once again landed below estimates. New US jobless claims dropped to an unadjusted 779,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected claims to total 830,000. The reading marks a third straight weekly decline in claims and the lowest reading in two months.
Continuing claims, which track Americans receiving unemployment benefits, fell to 4.7 million for the week that ended January 23. That also beat forecasts.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 3,841.68, up 0.3%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 30,792.46, up 0.22% (68.86 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 13,690.58, up 0.59%
"While the trend is down for the last three weeks of numbers, it's too early to predict that this begins a strong reversal of excruciatingly high layoffs," Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said.
The data precedes the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Friday report on hiring through January. Economists expect mild job gains through the month, marking an encouraging reversal from December's pullback.
In other encouraging news, COVID-19 cases in the US continued to trend lower after hitting record highs just weeks ago. The country reported 116,960 cases on Wednesday, according to The COVID Tracking Project. Hospitalizations dropped to 91,440 and total deaths surpassed 440,000.
GameStop and AMC wavered after climbing in Wednesday's session. The Reddit darlings face a fork in the road as day traders consider whether to take profits or try to fuel another massive rally.
Apple gained after CNBC reported the tech giant is nearing a deal with Hyundai to produce an autonomous car at its US factory in Georgia. The vehicle is tentatively expected to go into production in 2024, according to the report.
PayPal rose after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings.
Dogecoin surged higher following several tweets from Elon Musk backing the meme-based cryptocurrency. The Tesla CEO called the token the "people's crypto" early Thursday morning, later adding "no highs, no lows, only Doge."
Bitcoin nearly retook $39,000 in early morning trading before stabilizing above $37,500. The token has steadily climbed this week after trading in a narrow range around $34,000.
Gold sank 1.5%, to $1,806.64 per ounce, at intraday lows. The US dollar strengthened against a basket of Group-of-20 currency peers and Treasury yields ticked higher.
Oil prices continued to trend higher. West Texas Intermediate crude gained as much as 1%, to $56.25 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, gained 1%, to $59.04 per barrel, at intraday highs.