U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 once again in record territory following the Labor Department's report of lower-than-forecast jobless claims while retailers' reports of improved sales added upside impetus.
U.S. Jobs Claims
U.S. equities were boosted by the Labor Department's pre-market release of unemployment numbers. In a reversal from somewhat dismal jobs numbers of two weeks ago, jobless claims dropped by 42,000 to 346,000 last week. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected claims to fall to 360,000. The initial claims reading of 346,000 was the lowest level in three weeks. The Labor Department also reported that the average of new claims over the past month rose by 3,000 to 358,000. In the week ended March 30th, continuing claims declined 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.08 million.
U.S. Import prices
Other economic data released pre-bell today showed prices paid for imported goods fell 0.5% in March, mostly due to a decline in fuel costs. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.5% decline.
Retailers performed well today, following some impressive sales results, including by Limited Brands (LTD), Ross Stores (ROST) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD).
Manufacturers of computer hardware and software were the laggards today, still feeling the impact of a report released yesterday by International Data Corp that showed PC shipments declined 14% worldwide during the first three months of 2013 compared to the same period last year.
In commodities, oil futures shed 1.2% in today's session to close at $93.51 a barrel after both the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut their oil demand forecasts.
Gold futures added 0.4% in today's session to close at $1,564.90 an ounce on the Comex, rebounding after a few days of losses drew bargain hunters to the market. Also attracting fresh purchases was a decline in the greenback, which made the metal more attractive for holders of international currencies.
Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End
- Dow Jones Industrial Average up 62.90 (+0.42%) to 14,865.14
- S&P 500 up 5.64 (+0.36%) to 1,593.37
- Nasdaq Composite Index up 2.91 (+0.09%) to 3,300.16
- Nikkei 225 Index up 1.96%
- Hang Seng Index up 0.30%
- Shanghai China Composite Index down 0.28%
- FTSE 100 up 0.51%.
- DAX up 0.70%.
- CAC 40 up 1.08%.
- (+) ACAD, Surges to new 52-week top of $12.22 after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed that the data from the pivotal Phase III -020 study, together with supportive data from other studies with pimavanserin, are sufficient to support the filing of a New Drug Application (NDA) to treat Parkinson's disease psychosis (PDP). As a result, ACADIA will no longer conduct the Phase III -021 study that was planned as a confirmatory trial and was scheduled to be initiated later this month.
- (+) PVA, Commences a cash tender offer to purchase any and all of its $300 million in outstanding aggregate principal amount of 10.375% senior notes due 2016.
- (+) GRPN, Piper analyst Gene Munster says the company could deliver a Q1 daily deals take rate of 33%.
- (+) BIOL, Hits new 52-week high of $5.10 after the company earlier said its EPIC 10S soft tissue diode laser has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a surgical instrument for more than 80 different indications in 19 medical markets. The EPIC 10S is thesurgical model of the recently released, next-generation dental EPIC 10.
- (-) LEDS, Reported a Q2 loss of $0.19 per share, ex one-time items, versus the Capital IQ GAAP consensus estimate of $0.24 loss per share. Revenues were $4.83 million, versus the analyst estimate of $5.36 million. In the same period last year, the company reported a loss of $0.22 per share on revenues of $7.9 million.
- (-) ROYL, Shares deflate after the stock soared about 40% on Wednesday after the company signed a $43 million joint venture deal for its Alaska North Slope project.
- (-) FTNT, Analysts at Needham & Co. downgraded their coverage to a Hold rating from Buy following Q1 warning.
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