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Investors welcomed the positive signs that Congress would resolve the impending debt ceiling.
Samuel Corum / Getty Images
The stock market was higher on Thursday, building on the momentum of late gains on Wednesday, after a deal to extend the debt ceiling was reached in Congress. Weekly jobless claims also painted an improving job market picture.
In the middle of the morning, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
increased by 535 points, or 1.6%. The
S&P 500
and
Nasdaq Composite
were up 1.5% and 1.6% respectively.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a deal between Republicans and Democrats had been reached to extend the government’s debt ceiling until December.
Now the US market is eagerly awaiting the US employment report on Friday, which measures non-farm payrolls. Investors want to see that as the benefits of the pandemic expire, there is an incentive for people to return to work.
Investors may have had an early read of the labor market, as initial weekly jobless claims were 326,000, better than expected 345,000 and lower than last week’s result of 364,000.
“The next two payroll reports are critical,” wrote Tom Graff, head of fixed income at Brown Advisory. “In the first half of 2021, many blamed low labor market participation on generous unemployment benefits. As of this payroll report, those have completely expired.
Recently, better-than-expected economic data has given stocks a boost. Over the summer, the data had been disappointing, in part because of the increase in Covid-19 cases. Some had said the markets needed to see better data, which the market got.
Overseas, Hong Kong
Hang Seng
rose 3.1%, led by shares of tech companies amid optimism about the thaw in US-China relations. The pan-European
Stoxx 600
was 1.5% higher.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to help “stabilize” the natural gas market in Europe, where prices have risen by around 500% this year, allayed fears of an energy crisis in the region and helped to cool commodity prices.
European natural gas prices fell 10% on Wednesday, retreating again on Thursday, while coal fell 10%. Futures on the international benchmark Brent Crude fell initially, before rising slightly 0.3% to just over $ 81 a barrel.
Here are eight actions in motion Thursday:
Industrial software company
Aspen technology
(ticker: AZPN) the stock rose 7.6% as a manufacturer
Electric Emerson
(EMR) is considering merging its software business with Aspen.
Conagra brands
The share (CAG) was down 0.3% after the company reported earnings of 50 cents per share, beating estimates of 49 cents per share, on revenue of $ 2.65 billion, higher than expectations of $ 2.53 billion.
Schlumberger
The stock (SLB) gained 2.8% after being overweight Neutral at JPMorgan.
Five below
The stock (FIVE) rose 6.2% after being overweight Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Square
(SQ) jumped 2.4% after the payout group was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Jefferies, which assumed coverage of the company with a target price implying a 25% share rise .
Ali Baba
(BABA) rose 7.3% in Hong Kong, with US-listed stocks poised for a similar rally. Chinese tech stocks, like
Tencent
(0700.HK), which jumped 5.6% in Hong Kong, has been under pressure all year but was boosted by optimism that US-China relations would improve. White House officials plan to schedule a meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Chinese domains
(0127.HK) rose 31.7% in Hong Kong after struggling developer’s former shareholder
China Evergrande
(3333.HK) revealed a buyout offer of $ 245 million, which is a significant premium to the current share price.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at [email protected]
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