Dow closes above 34K for first time on jobs, retail bounce
The Nasdaq Composite is 0.4% below its all-time peak
Investors should be 'cautious' on big tech stocks: Portfolio manager
Sandy Villere on big tech stocks
Stocks hit records highs Thursday as investors sifted through strong economic data and another batch of earnings.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43820.51 | -137.68 | -0.31% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5963.05 | -22.33 | -0.37% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19152.794356 | -77.93 | -0.41% |
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 305 points, or 0.9%, to cross the 34,000 level for the first time. UnitedHealth and Microsoft touching fresh records. The 1,000-point move from 33,000 to 34,000 was the third fastest on record, as tracked by the Dow Jones Market Data Group. Moves of such magnitude become easier as the index grows in value and equate smaller and smaller percentage gains.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNH | UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC. | 590.77 | -15.11 | -2.49% |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 427.06 | +1.86 | +0.44% |
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile advanced 1.11% and 1.31%, respectively. The gains propelled the S&P 500 to its own record high and the Nasdaq closed 0.4% below its all-time peak.
JOBLESS CLAIMS FALL TO PRE-PANDEMIC LOWS
The advance came after the Census Bureau said retail sales surged 9.8% month over month in March, far exceeding the 5.9% gain that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting. Additionally, initial jobless claims for the week ended April 10 totaled 576,000, the lowest since lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 began in March 2020.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAC | BANK OF AMERICA CORP. | 45.92 | +0.04 | +0.09% |
| C | CITIGROUP INC. | 67.97 | -0.92 | -1.34% |
| JPM | JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 241.80 | +0.56 | +0.23% |
| C | CITIGROUP INC. | 67.97 | -0.92 | -1.34% |
On Thursday, Bank of America Corp. reported quarterly profit more than doubled after the firm released $2.7 billion of reserves that had been set aside to protect against loan losses during the pandemic. The bank also announced a $25 billion stock buyback plan.
Citigroup Inc. beat on both earnings and revenue and said it would shut down most of its consumer-banking operations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The better-than-expected results from Bank of America and Citigroup are further evidence of the strength in the sector displayed by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co on Wednesday.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 65.26 | +0.78 | +1.21% |
Elsewhere in earnings, Delta Air Lines Inc. said its quarterly loss widened from a year ago, but that it expects to return to profitability in the September quarter. Adjusted earnings per share missed estimates while revenue beat.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COIN | COINBASE GLOBAL INC. | 286.78 | +2.06 | +0.72% |
Meanwhile, Coinbase Global Inc. was in focus during its first full day of trading as a public company as shares continued to climb. The stock, on Wednesday afternoon, opened at $381 apiece and hit a high of $429.54 before settling at $328.28 and a market capitalization of $85.8 billion.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TMO | THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. | 535.66 | -6.14 | -1.13% |
| PPD | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
In deals, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. agreed to buy PPD Inc. for about $21 billion including debt. The agreement will pay PPD shareholders $47.50 per share – a 10.6% premium to Wednesday’s closing price.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DELL | DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC. | 134.86 | +0.29 | +0.21% |
Dell Technologies Inc. announced plans to spin off its 81% stake in cloud-software company VMWare Inc. which will pay a special dividend of up to $12 billion to the firm’s shareholders. Dell shareholders will receive 0.44 VMWare shares for each share they own.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 31 cents to $63.46 per barrel and gold jumped $30.50 to $1,765.40 per ounce.
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Overseas markets were mixed.
European markets were higher across the board with Britain’s FTSE 100 rising 0.63% while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.41% and Germany's DAX 30 increased 0.3%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.07%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.37% and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.52%.