Stocks Rebound As Rising Jobless Claims Sustain Rate-Cut Hopes, Dollar Falls, Gold Rallies: What's Driving Markets Thursday?
Wall Street is seeing a day of gains as all major indices traded in the green around noon in New York, driven by a surprising uptick in unemployment claims prompting speculation over Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Jobless benefits rose from 209,000 to 231,000 in the week ending May 4, surpassing market expectations of 210,000 and reaching the highest level in eight months.
Consequently, the U.S. dollar Index (DXY), tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE:UUP), declined by 0.2% in reaction to the data, as market participants slightly increased bets on a September Fed cut.
The S&P 500 index inched up by 0.1%, following Wednesday’s flat close, while blue chips of the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%, aiming for their seventh consecutive day of gains, the longest streak since December 2023.
Small caps, tracked by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM), increased by 0.5%.
Gold surged by 1% and silver by 2.8% due to the lower dollar. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) saw a 1.4% increase.
Elsewhere, the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged, while flagging rising chances of imminent rate cuts as new inflation projections reveal that price pressures will fall below target in two years.
Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| Russell 2000 | 2,063.88 | 0.5% |
| Dow Jones | 39,198.18 | 0.4% |
| S&P 500 | 5,193.92 | 0.1% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 18,059.03 | -0.1% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.2% to $518.53, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.5% to $392.26 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) was unchanged at $440.08, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) outperformed, up 1.7%, followed by the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU), up 0.8%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) was the major laggard, down 0.3%.
Thursday’s Stock Movers
- Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) rose 11%, marking the best performance in the S&P 500, after the real estate company topped funds from operation results last quarter despite missing overall revenue and earnings.
- Other stocks reacting to earnings were Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB), The Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ:TDD) down 7%, Applovin Corp (NYSE:APP), up 18%, Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) down 1.8%, Texas Pacific Land Corp. (NYSE:TPL) up 9%, Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:EXAS) tumbled 9%, and Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL), down 17%.
- NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE:NRG) up 8%, Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) up 1%, Roblox Corp. (NYSE:RBLX) down 21.1%, Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD), US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) up 5.5%, Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) down 4.3%.
- Those reporting after the close include Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ:BLNK), Dropbox, Inc. (NASDAQ:DBX), Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF), Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:NVTS), Rackspace Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXT), Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) and Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP).
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