U.S. stocks closed higher across the board on Thursday, U.S. time, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 hitting new record highs. A number of major publicly traded companies reported strong first quarter results, while the latest economic data showed a rebound in U.S. consumer spending and the job market.
The Dow Jones closed at 34,035.99, up 305.10 points, or 0.90%, to a new record high, the first time the index broke the 34,000 mark. The S&P 500 closed at 4170.42 points, up 1.11%, also a record high, and the Nasdaq Composite closed at 14038.76 points, up 1.31%.
Technology stocks rallied as U.S. Treasury yields fell. The so-called “FAANG stocks” (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nifty and Alphabet) all rose more than 1 percent. 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell 8 basis points to below 1.56 percent. Earlier this year, rising U.S. bond yields led investors to sell off growth stocks.
Nvidia shares rose 5.6 percent after investment bank Raymond James analyst Chris Caso upgraded the stock to “Strong Buy” from “Outperform” and raised his price target from $700 to $750. to $750 from $700.
Newly listed cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase closed down 1.7 percent in volatile intraday trading. Cathie Wood, the “female version of Warren Buffett” and founder of Ark Invest, said the company’s share price was lower than $750. The stock got an early boost after Cathie Wood made a big buy of the stock in the first day of trading.
Electric car stocks were mixed, with Tesla shares up 0.90%; Azera down 3.67%, Xiaopeng down 4.53% and Ideal down 6.73%. According to statistics, Azera, Xiaopeng and Ideal car sales in the first quarter were: Azera up 15.6% YoY; Xiaopeng up 3% YoY; and Ideal down 13% YoY.
Specifically, leading technology stocks performed as follows.
The leading chip stocks in the U.S. performed as follows.
Major Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. performed as follows.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday that U.S. retail sales soared 9.8% in March as additional stimulus measures drove consumer spending to soar. The figure beat Dow Jones’ estimate of 6.1 percent.
A separate report released Thursday showed that the number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance in the U.S. fell to the lowest level since March 2020. The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time was 576,000 for the week ended April 10. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had previously estimated 710,000.
Investment bank LPL Financial chief market strategist Ryan? Detrick (Ryan Detrick) said: “Although (the Dow) 3400 points itself is just another number, but if you think back to this time last year, you will find that this is a huge achievement. The speed and resilience of this economic recovery is like nothing we’ve ever seen, which helps justify the stock market being at all-time highs.”
U.S. stocks have been climbing to record highs in recent trading sessions, fueled by the U.S. economic reboot and trillion-dollar stimulus package. So far, the S&P 500 has gained a cumulative 11 percent this year, with energy and financial stocks gaining the most.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested a suspension of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine after six people in the U.S. who were injected with Johnson & Johnson’s New Crown vaccine developed a rare disease involving blood clots. The news sparked a sell-off in U.S. stocks at the opening bell Tuesday, but is not expected to materially affect the pace of vaccine deployment in the United States.
Recent Comments