© Reuters.
Investing.com – Late buying gave stocks a decent finish on Thursday after getting crushed in the last two days.
The advanced 0.8%. The added 0.47%, and the won a relatively strong 1.12% gain. The gains were welcome after the Dow lost 838 points in the prior two days, with the S&P 500 giving up 89 points and the Nasdaq 214.
The S&P 500 and Dow finished just below their highs of the day. The Nasdaq closed at its high.
The upside of the rally was heavy buying in the last half hour of the day. The Dow moved up more than 100 points to finish with a 122-point gain.
The rally was powered by big technology stocks, including Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Facebook (NASDAQ:) Apple (NASDAQ:), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) and Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:).
The five combined to contribute nearly 40% of the index's gain of nearly 88 points.
In addition, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:), due to report earnings after the close, was up 1.4%. But the shares were 1.1% lower after hours after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings per share, and sales growth on a comparable-store basis was lower than expected.
Boeing (NYSE:), McDonald’s (NYSE:), Apple, Visa (NYSE:) and Microsoft were responsible for 101 points of the Dow's 122-point gain.
The market seemed to weather weakness in Tesla (NASDAQ:), whose September deliveries missed expectations.
As welcome as Thursday's rally was, Friday's jobs report from the Labor Department could scuttle things quickly if the numbers are weak. Solid job growth will probably set off a big day.
Uncertainty in the market came early in the day from the Institute for Supply Management, whose September report for the non-manufacturing economy showed the slowest growth in three years.
The ISM report set off a selloff, with the Dow down as many as 335 points before recovering in a big way. The report also expanded speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut its key rate at its meeting at the end of October. Investing.com's gives a rate cut a 91% chance of happening.
were mostly flat, but interest rates dropped. The yield fell to 1.536% from Wednesday's 1.597% sought safety. Safety also helped gold move higher. in New York were up $5.90 an ounce to $1,509.80 an ounce.
S&P 500 leaders included Lamb Weston Holdings (NYSE:), one of the biggest french-fry processors, market platform operator MarketAxesss Holdings and chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:).
Wine merchant Constellation Brands (NYSE:), Charles Schwab (NYSE:) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:) were among the weakest S&P 500 stocks.
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.