Shopping malls and restaurants are seeing an increase in foot traffic as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and more vaccines are distributed. FOX Business’ Lydia Hu and more.
US stock futures traded mixed the day after the Dow closed above 34,000 for the first time.
The major futures indices indicate a gain on the Dow and a decline in the Nasdaq.
GET FOX-BUSINESS PARTS BY CLICK HERE
Wall Street has reached more milestones as a broad market march pushed the S&P 500 to an all-time high and the Dow crossed the 34,000 mark.
Traders will have more earnings reports and economic data to study on the last trading day of the week.
The financial sector will follow with results from Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial Services, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street.
The Department of Commerce is expected to say the number of new homes built in March has risen to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,613 million, up 13.5% from February. Permits for future construction are expected to increase by 1.7% to 1.75 million.
US housing market nearly 4 million homes short of copper demand
The University of Michigan will report its preliminary consumer sentiment index for April. The Refinitiv estimate is 89.6, almost five points above March’s final reading of 84.9, which was the highest since March last year.
In Europe, the London FTSE increased 0.6%, the DAX of Germany increased by 0.6% and the CAC of France increased by 0.4%.
In Asia, the Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.6% and China’s Shanghai Composition 0.8%.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ek: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE | 34035.99 | +305.10 | + 0.90% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4170.42 | +45.76 | + 1.11% |
The S&P 500 rose 45.76 points to 4,170.42 on Thursday, surpassing the previous record high of 4,141.59. The Dow climbed 305.10 points, or 0.9%, to 34,035.99.
The Nasdaq Composition added 180.92 points, or 1.3%, to 14,038.76.
U.S. retail sales rose 9.8% in February from March, boosting economists’ forecasts for 5.5% growth.
576,000 US LILER FIRST UNEMPLOYED CLAIMS
Another report provided encouraging reading on the labor market and showed that 576,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week. That is well below the 700,000 that economists predicted and lower than 769,000 the previous week. This is also the lowest number since the pandemic.
In addition to the optimism, more large U.S. companies for the first three months of 2021 made even healthier profits than analysts had predicted. Expectations are already high for this earnings reporting season, which kicked off unofficially on Wednesday and could lead to the strongest growth in more than a decade.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS
In energy trading, the standard U.S. crude added 18 cents to $ 63.64 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, received 25 cents to $ 67.19 a barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.