The S&P 500 was mixed on Thursday as investors in the US market turned their attention to the latest corporate results, while the Nasdaq posted mild gains on the back of Tesla.
On the board, the industrialist Dow Jones recorded a drop of 51.30 points or 0.16%, with the broadest S&P 500 to gain 3.22 points or 0.08% and the technological one Nasdaq to record an increase of 30.77 points or 0.27%.
All three indexes closed at their highest levels in more than a month on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 at its highest since June 9.
Tesla shares were up 4% after the automaker reported stronger-than-expected results, but showed a decline in the company’s gross margins.
The shares of Alcoa and CSX are also moving upwards, after the stronger than expected results they announced.
Shares of American Airlines are also moving higher as its results beat expectations in its first profitable quarter without government aid from the US federal government since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Strong summer travel demand created the highest quarterly revenue in its historybut its stock is down 7%.
United Airlines also returned to profitability, but its results disappointed compared to expectations, with its stock falling around 9%.
About 13% of S&P 500 companies have reported second-quarter results, with two-thirds of them beating expectations, according to FactSet.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rates earlier on Thursday for the first time in 11 years, in order to combat galloping inflation in the euro area. Its key interest rate increased by 50 basis points to 0% (from -0.5%).
“The bulls seem to be back in the market. We’ve seen particularly strong rallies in technology, cryptocurrencies and other high-risk assets over the past few days,” notes Callie Cox, US investment analyst at eToro. “Which is worthy of our attention, as in an economy with striking weaknesses at this time, one would expect to see other parts of the market doing better. However, the animal instincts have returned, at least for the time being,” he added.
Carnival shares are down more than 10% after the company announced it will sell $1 billion worth of stock.
Among the 30 Dow stocks, 7 are moving with a positive sign and 22 with a negative sign. Gainers were led by Visa, Walmart and Goldman Sachs, while losses were led by Verizon, Dow Inc. and Chevron.
US: Claims for new jobless benefits hit eight-month high
Initial claims for US jobless benefits rose by 7,000 last week.
According to official figures, the total number of initial applications reached 251,000.
This number is the highest since last November.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected new claims to fall to 240,000 from 244,000 last week.
The number of people already collecting unemployment benefits rose by 51,000 to 1.38 million.
Claims have risen since reaching 166,000 in March, the lowest level of claims since 1968. Economists say the labor market remains strong, but layoffs must be watched.
Source: Capital
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