The Dow rose 0.6%, or 189 points, while the S&P closed 1% higher.
“Covid trends continue to show improvement on a national and international basis as vaccine doses continue to accumulate across the country,” said Bespoke Investment’s Paul Hickey.
Bond yields, which had recently climbed over concerns that a rise in inflation would force the Federal Reserve to raise rates earlier, have fallen again. These fears were partly allayed by Wednesday’s inflation report, which is in line with economists’ expectations.
The U.S. treasury yield for ten years rose 0.03% to 1.53% at the time of the stock market. Bond yields and prices move towards each other.
“It’s becoming clear that investors are not sure what to do with stocks at these levels,” Think Market Markets analyst Fawad Razaqzada wrote in a note to clients.
“Some still want to buy stocks, especially those that are sensitive to the economy, before stimulus checks arrive,” Razaqzada added, “while others want to make a profit after a remarkable march over the past year or so.”
Thursday’s economic data also helped boost optimism: weekly initial claims for unemployment benefits came lower than economists had predicted, and they also fell from the previous week. This could be a sign that the recovery of U.S. jobs is finally gaining steam.
Nevertheless, the number of workers in need of benefits, with 712,000 seasonally adjusted initial claims filed last week, is still higher than during the peak of the Great Recession.