U.S. stocks advanced in Thursday's trading session as the Dow Jones Industrial Average once again clinched a record high of 14,335; the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also notched advances to close in the green. A batch of mixed-to-positive economic data supported gains as investors digested a dip in jobless claims and a gain in household wealth, along with other news.
U.S. Jobs
Ahead of the open, the Labor Department said jobless claims in the week ended March 3 declined by 7,000 to 340,000, better than the 353,000 claims economists polled by MarketWatch had expected, and the lowest they have been in five years. The average of new claims over the past month fell by 7,000 to 348,750, touching their lowest level since March 2008.
Net worth for households and non-profit groups increased by $1.17 trillion from October through December to $66.1 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Thursday in its flow of funds report. This is the highest since the fourth quarter of 2007.
Q4 U.S. productivity fell 1.9% in the final three months of 2012 instead of the previously estimated 2.0% decline. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast revised productivity to drop 1.6% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. For all of 2012, U.S. productivity rose 0.7% compared to the prior estimate of 1.0%.
The Commerce Department also reported that the U.S. trade deficit widened 16.5% in January to $44.4 billion, above the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists of a deficit of $42.4 billion. Exports slumped 1.2% in January while imports were up 1.8%.
In corporate news, Hot Topic (HOTT) surged after the company said it will be acquired by Sycamore Partners for $14 per share in a roughly $600 million deal.
Time Warner (TWX) hit a new 52-week high after late Wednesday saying it will spin off its entire Time Inc. magazine business, which would become an independent, publicly traded company.
Commodities were mostly higher, with crude oil for April delivery climbing $1.13 to $91.56 per barrel. April natural gas was settled down $0.002 to $3.58 per 1 million BTU. April gold added $0.005 to $1,576.90 per ounce while May silver added $0.005 to finish at $28.81 per ounce. May copper was off $0.003, settling at $3.52 per pound.
Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End
- Dow Jones Industrial Average up 33.25 (+0.23%) to 14,329.49
- S&P 500 up 2.80 (+0.18%) to 1,544.26
- Nasdaq Composite Index up 9.72 (+0.30%) to 3,323.09
- Hang Seng Index up 0.30%
- Shanghai China Composite Index down 0.99%
- FTSE 100 Index up 0.32%
- (+) CIEN, Q1 EPS, sales top street view, improve vs. year prior
- (+) PCOM, Q4 sales, EPS top expectations, sales up 24% year-over-year
- (+) TGD, TD Securities initiated coverage at Buy, with a price target of $4.25
- (+) FB, Updating its News Feed feature to include bigger photos.
- (-) ACUR, Plans to sell up to $75 million of its common stock, debt securities and warrants
- (-) MTG, Priced its secondary offering of 135 million shares of common stock at $5.15 per share
- (-) SCTY, Posted wider Q4 loss vs. estimates -- stock downgraded to Hold at Needham & Co
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