Dow knocks on 34,000 door as retail sales soar 10% in March and unemployment claims hit new pandemic low

How are stock benchmarks traded?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
  + 0.90%
  achieved 250 points, or 0.7%, to reach 33,970, after hitting an intraday record at 33,981.02.

• The S&P 500 index SPX,
  + 0.92%
  traded 30 points higher to reach 4,154, a gain of 0.6%, and hit an intraday record at 4,156.56 near the open.

• The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
  + 0.95%
  advanced 149 points, or 1.1%, to 14,008.

On Wednesday, the Dow closed 53.62 points or 0.2% to 33,730.89, the S&P 500 finished 16.93 points or 0.4% lower at 4,124.66, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 138.26 points or 1% to to close at 13,857.84, a deduction of 1.7% from its Feb. 12 record high.

What drives the market?

A big day for earnings reports and economic data starts off bullish on Thursday and was helped by slightly lower bond yields.

US retail sales were up nearly 10% in March thanks to $ 1,400 stimulus vouchers paid to consumers by the federal government. Sales were up 9.8% last month, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal had predicted a 6.1% increase.

In addition to the market’s optimism, weekly unemployment benefits fell to a low point in the pandemic era. US unemployment claims fell by 193,000 in the week of April 10, an unusually large drop that likely reflects both an improving economy and ongoing difficulties in processing claims for unemployment benefits. Initial unemployment claims traditionally filed through the states fell to a seasonally adjusted 576,000 from 769,000 in the previous week.

“Stellar advancements in unemployment plus extraordinary retail sales are taking a positive two punches and providing strong signals that the economy is full steam ahead for recovery,” wrote Mike Loewengart, CEO of E-Trade Financial.

“While we have not necessarily seen the market move on strong economic beats or failures, it is certainly a step in the right direction. And now that the earnings season has got off to a good start, the arguments for continued bullishness should not be ignored, ”he said.

US industrial production also rose 1.4% in March, following a revised 2.6% drop in the previous month caused by harsh winter weather, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

See: Coinbase is the most valuable US exchange after the first day of trading

Investors were also working on a first quarterly report of Bank of America Corp.
BAC,
-2.51%
after it reported earnings that more than doubled and exceeded expectations, citing strong capital market growth and lower cost of credit. The bank also announced a $ 25 billion share buyback program. Bank of America is one of the most actively traded stocks in the US market.

Quarterly Results of PepsiCo PEP,
+ 0.11%
Citigroup C,
-0.49%
BlackRock BLK,
+ 2.34%
and Delta Air Lines DAL,
-2.79%
were also digested, a day after Goldman Sachs Group GS,
+ 1.19%
and JPMorgan Chase JPM,
+ 0.17%
delivered solid results.

Earnings and economy aside, some analysts said investors may become more entrenched in the belief that despite rising inflation, the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low and take liquidity measures to continue to boost the COVID-affected economy. Doubts about the Fed’s commitment had pushed benchmark bond yields this year, but recently rates have stabilized with 10-year Treasury BX: TMUBMUSD10Y
with a yield of just over 1.60% on Thursday and trading in a range between 1.6 and 1.75% in recent weeks.

While there is a lot of excitement in equities, traders are also keeping an eye on fixed income markets. US Treasuries show that investors are becoming more convinced by the Federal Reserve’s message that inflation spikes are only transient and will not lead to policy tightening any time soon, ”Hussein Sayed, FXTM Chief Market Strategist, wrote in a statement note.

In a moderate discussion sponsored by the Economic Club of Washington, Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell said the central bank would likely phase out asset purchases “well before we consider raising interest rates,” putting the road ahead. 2013-2014. “We didn’t vote on that injunction, but that’s the point of the directive that it would work that way,” Powell said.

In terms of public health, a study from the University of Oxford found that the number of people who get blood clots after being vaccinated with a coronavirus vaccine is about the same for those who Pfizer PFE and Modern MRNA vaccines as well as for the AstraZeneca AZN vaccine that was developed with the help of the university. The study comes after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for an immediate halt Johnson & Johnsonis JNJ,
+ 1.04%
single COVID vaccine.

Investors are also waiting for comments from Fed speakers, including Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic Speaks at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly at 2:00 p.m., and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester at 4:00 p.m.

In other US economic data, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index jumped to a value of 50.2 in April from a revised 44.5 in the previous month, marking its highest level in nearly 50 years. Economists had expected a reading of 42 after the March first reading of 51.8, according to a Wall Street Journal poll of economists.

Regardless, the New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State Index rose to 26.3 in April from 17.4 in March, the New York Fed said – its highest since October 2017.

Which companies is the focus on?

• Shares of Coinbase Global
  COIN,
  + 1.90%
  climbed Thursday, a day after the cryptocurrency platform became the most valuable US exchange on Wednesday, amid strong demand for its newly listed stocks. Shares were up about 4%.

• ARK Invest bought cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global COIN, which was made public Wednesday, for three of the ARK exchange-traded funds, including the flagship ARK Innovation ETF ARKK. ARK Invest bought Coinbase shares worth $ 246 million for the ARK Innovation ETF, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF ARKW and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF. Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, spoke in an interview with Bloomberg BNN on Wednesday about Coinbase’s potential and volatility. The shares of Ark Innovation are up 1.2%.

• Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc.UNH jumped more than 3% into record territory on Thursday after the healthcare company reported first-quarter earnings and sales above expectations and boosting its full-year outlook.

• PepsiCo Inc. said that its profit rose for the recent quarter as sales grew. Shares rose 0.2%.

• Tapestry Inc. TPR said Thursday that it has made Todd Kahn the permanent CEO and brand president of Coach with immediate effect, giving him the position he has held on an interim basis since July 2020. The share rose by 1%.

• Kimco Realty Corp. KIM announced an agreement on Thursday to purchase Weingarten Realty Investors WRI in a cash and equity deal that values ​​the owner of supermarket anchored shopping centers at approximately $ 3.9 billion. Shares of Kimco fell 0.7%, while shares of Weingarten were up more than 9%.

• Dell Technologies Inc.Shares of DELL were up 4.6% after the computer maker said it finally lost its majority stake VMware Inc. VMW. VMware stock was flat.

• TuSimple Holdings Inc. TSP will go public Thursday, after the self-driving truck maker’s initial public offering cost $ 40 per share, above its expected range of between $ 35 and $ 39 per share.

How are other assets doing?

• The ICE US Dollar Index DXY, -0.04%, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, fell less than 0.1% to 91,652.

• US crude for delivery in May, CL.1, retreated slightly from its 4-week high, falling 0.3% to $ 62.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• Treasury BX: TMUBMUSD10Y’s 10-year yield lost 3 basis points to 1.60%. Bond prices move inversely with returns.

• Gold futures traded higher as bond yields fell, with the June GCM21 contract rising 0.9% to $ 1,752.10 an ounce.

• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index SXXP rose 0.4%, while the London FTSE 100 UKX was up 0.6%.

• In Asia, Shanghai Composite SHCOMP was down 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI closed 0.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK was down 0.5%.