Investing.com – Wall Street rallied on Thursday as investors welcomed strong economic data.
The S&P 500 was up eight points or 0.32% to 2,613.45 as of 9:54 AM ET (13:54 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 114 points or 0.48% to 23,963.07 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell three and a half points or 0.05% to 6,945.73.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to more than a 45-year low last week, suggesting a strong economy.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended March 24, the lowest level since January 1973, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Technology stocks continued to struggled after a tumultuous week. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has faced criticism after a third-party app was used to target 50 million users without their knowledge, leading to a slump in stocks. On Wednesday the firm unveiled new tools to help users access the data that the social media giant has on them.
Facebook was up 1.25% while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) increased 0.72% and Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX) surged 1.44%. Aircraft maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) rose 1.30% while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) gained 1.18%.
Elsewhere Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was down 3.73% after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to change the firm’s tax code. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 2.78% while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 2.19%.
In Europe stocks were up. In Germany the DAX rose 114 points or 0.95% while France’s CAC 40 increased 38 points or 0.75% and in London the FTSE 100 was up 17 points or 0.25%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 gained 65 points or 0.68% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 surged 36 points or 1.11%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.06% to $1,323.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.23% to $64.53 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.16% to 89.62.