- The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 152.84 points, or 0.54%.
- The S&P 500 gained 17.93 points, or 0.52%.
- The Nasdaq Composite put on 21.31 points, or 0.19%, to 11,506.01.
Stocks on Wall Street finished the day higher on Thursday in choppy trading conditions once again while the hopes of a stimulus package remained alive.
At the same time, there was more data supporting the jobs outlook and keeping hopes alive for an economic recovery.
Polls continue to point to a Blue landslide in the elections which have the market presuming a larger fiscal stimulus package for 2021.
The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi reported progress in talks with the Trump administration for another round of financial aid and said the legislation could be hammered out “pretty soon”.
However, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow cautioned “significant policy differences” remained, which were unlikely to be resolved before the Nov. 3 election.
Also, Jeff Stein, the White House economics reporter for The Washington Post interrupted market flow with a tweet saying, ‘members have no idea what’s going on and they’re very worried about Mnuchin going too far and putting together a package they can’t vote for. They don’t trust Mnuchin. There’s hardly any trust there because they don’t think he’s a conservative.”
Nevertheless, the jobs data seemed to seal the deal for markets on Thursday.
Weekly jobless claims for the US eased this week with both initial claims and continuing claims lower than anticipated.
The data showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the United States dropped 55,000 to a seasonally adjusted 787,000 last week, although the overall number was still relatively high. A Reuters survey had forecast 860,000 claims in the latest week.
”This follows a lift in the number of people claiming an unemployment benefit last week, but these data tend to be volatile, and numbers are still historically high, so it is too early to say the job situation is improving. ”
Subsequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 152.84 points, or 0.54%, to 28,363.66, the S&P 500 gained 17.93 points, or 0.52%, to 3,453.49 and the Nasdaq Composite put on 21.31 points, or 0.19%, to 11,506.01.
Meanwhile, after the close, there were reports that the FDA has approved Gilieads Remdesivir as a coronavirus treatment.
There should be some risk on flavours for the Asian session on the headline as we get set for a day packed with key data and events.
New Zealand Consumer Prive Index, Aussie PMIs and the final US presidential election debate.
S&P 500 levels
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