- US stocks moved higher on Thursday amid a decline in the 10-Year US Treasury yield.
- The
Dow Jones Industrial Average is attempting to snap a four-day losing streak. - Jobless claims jumped to 286,000 last week, hitting its highest level since October.
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US stocks moved higher in Thursday morning trades, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average seeking to snap a four-day losing streak as interest rates declined from recent highs.
The yield on the 10-Year US Treasury fell from Wednesday's multi-month high of 1.90% to about 1.83%. The slight decline comes ahead of next week's FOMC meeting and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference.
Jobless claims jumped to 286,000 last week, representing the highest level since October. The weekly claims badly missed economist estimates of 225,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims rose to 1.64 million.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 4,559.27, up 0.58%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,178.61, up 0.43% (149.96 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,495.93, up 1.10%
Bitcoin continued to hover around $42,000 on Thursday, but that's not fazing bulls like MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor, who told Bloomberg that his firm will never sell its $5 billion bitcoin holdings, even if prices crash.
Russia's central bank isn't on board with the crypto train, with a report from the bank arguing that cryptocurrencies have characteristics of pyramid schemes that rely on new money coming in to stimulate demand and boost prices higher. The country could be gearing up for a ban of cryptocurrencies.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also sees risks associated with cryptocurrencies, and is hoping to boost regulatory scrutiny of the sector this year. Gensler said crypto exchanges are one area of the market that deserve more attention from regulators.
Potential risks to crypto aren't stopping NFL star Tom Brady's NFT platform from raising $170 million from Andreessen Horowitz and other Silicon Valley investors.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell as much as 0.17% to $85.65 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped as much as 0.40% to $88.09 per barrel.
Gold rose as much as 0.20% to $1,846.90 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 3 basis points to 1.74%.