US: S&P 500 ends at fresh record high

The US stock market finished session in positive territory on Thursday, 01 July 2021, with the S&P 500 logging its sixth consecutive session of gains, after data showing the U.S. economy is growing at a rapid clip and the prospect of a bumper set of second-quarter earnings, while market gains capped ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report on Friday.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 131.02 points, or 0.38%, to 34,634. The S&P 500 index added 22.44 points, or 0.52%, at 4,320. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 18.42 points, or 0.13%, to 14,522.

ECONOMIC NEWS: US initial jobless claims slid to 364,000 in the week ended June 26th, a decrease of 51,000 from the previous week's revised level of 415,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.

US manufacturing PMI slipped to 60.6 in June from 61.2 in May, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the manufacturing sector, a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Thursday showed. The modest decrease by the headline index partly reflected a slowdown in the pace of growth in new orders, as the new orders index fell to 66.0 in June from 67.0 in May. The employment index also slid to 49.9 in June from 50.9 in May, indicating a slight contraction after six straight months of job growth. On the other hand, the report showed the production index climbed to 60.8 in June from 58.5 in the previous month.

US pending home sales rebounded strongly in May, reaching the highest reading ever for the month of May since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. All four U.S. regions registered both month-over-month increases and year-over-year gains for pending home sales contract transactions for the month of May. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, rose 8.0% to 114.7 in May. Year-over-year, signings increased 13.1%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

US construction spending fell by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $1.545 trillion in May after inching up by 0.1 percent to a revised rate of $1.550 trillion in April, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The unexpected drop in construction spending came as spending on private construction slipped by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $1.203 billion. Spending on non-residential construction slumped by 1.1 percent to a rate of $451.6 billion, more than offsetting a 0.2 percent increase in spending on residential construction to a rate of $751.7 billion.

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