McDonald's and Boeing were the main Dow gainers
U.S. stocks rallied into the close and ended Thursday's session with solid broad-based gains on 29 January 2015. Ahead of the opening bell, market reaction to a stronger-than-expected jobless claims figure was mostly muted, with stocks dipping into the red in early trade. Equities faced some selling pressure at the start amid continued weakness in crude oil.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 225.48 points, or 1.3%, to 17,416.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 45.41 points, or 1%, at 4,683.41. The S&P 500 closed up 19.10 points, or 1%, at 2,021.26, with all 10 main sectors finishing higher.
McDonald's and Boeing were the main Dow gainers.
Government data showed the number of U.S. workers making first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to 265,000 in the week ended 24 January 2015 from a revised 308,000 a week earlier. The fall was much larger than economists had expected and took initial claims to the lowest level since 2000. Economists had warned that the figures could be impacted by a reporting week shortened by the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The continuing claims level declined to 2.385 million from an upwardly revised 2.456 million (from 2.443 million) while the consensus expected a drop to 2.429 million
Separately, pending home sales for December fell 3.7% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase of 0.6%
Among stocks under focus, McDonald's gained 5.1% after the fast-food giant announced that President and CEO Don Thompson will retire March 1, and Chief Brand Officer Steve Easterbrook will take his place. Alibaba shares dove 8.8% after worse-than-expected sales gains. Ford shares rose 2.7% after the automaker posted results. Shares of Facebook rose 2.3% after the social-networking company on Wednesday reported results that were slightly above consensus.
Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Thursday, 29 January 2015. Gold posted its biggest daily percentage drop in 13 months on Thursday as U.S. jobless claims fell sharply, bolstering the Federal Reserve's commitment to tightening monetary policy later in the year. A recovery in U.S. stocks and the greenback also tarnished gold's allure as a safe-haven asset. Gold for February delivery skidded $31.30, or 2.4%, to settle at $1,254.60 an ounce. March silver futures shed $1.32, or 7.3%, to $16.77 an ounce.
Crude oil futures ended with small gains on Thursday, 29 January 2015 at Nymex but only after the U.S. benchmark sank below the $44-a-barrel level for the first time in nearly six years in a trading environment shadowed by a rapidly growing glut of crude.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 8 cents, or 0.2%, to close at $44.53 a barrel. It was a choppy trading session, with the contract earlier dipping as low as $43.58, its lowest level since March 2009.
Treasuries spent the day in a steady retreat with the 10-yr yield climbing four basis points to 1.76%.
Today's participation was a bit above average as 843 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Tomorrow, the advance reading of Q4 GDP (consensus 3.2%) will be released at 8:30 ET alongside the Q4 Employment Cost Index (consensus 0.5%). The Chicago PMI report for January (consensus 58.0) will cross the wires at 9:45 ET while the final reading of the January Michigan Sentiment Index will be reported at 9:55 ET (consensus 98.2).
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