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* Weekly jobless claims increase unexpectedly
* Micron jumps after optimistic revenue forecast
* Indexes up: Dow 0.4%, S&P 0.84%, Nasdaq 1.5% (updates early afternoon)
April 1 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 broke the 4,000 mark for the first time on Thursday, propelled by gains in tech stocks and optimism about a pickup in global economic activity.
A massive vaccination campaign and massive fiscal stimulus are expected to lead to a labor market recovery, prompting investors to look past the latest data showing an increase in the number of Americans filing new unemployment benefits last week.
The closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday could show that the US economy added 647,000 jobs in March, in addition to an increase of 379,000 in February.
The 4000 level “could be a possible inflection point where it renews confidence that this bull cycle is not over and that stocks can remain resilient in the face of rising interest rates and perhaps policy. of the Fed less accommodating, ”said Matt Hanna, portfolio manager at Summit Global Investments.
It took about a year and a half for the benchmark to close the 1,000-point gap to 4,000, compared to about five years from 2,000 to 3,000 points.
The blue chip Dow is just 1% shy of a record high. The Nasdaq, however, is about 5% below its all-time high, as a rapid rise in U.S. bond yields has accelerated the rotation from high-value tech stocks to economically-linked, undervalued stocks.
Seven of S&P’s top 11 sectors advanced, with technology, communications services and energy gaining more than 1%.
“April is generally a very good month for the market historically and I expect that momentum to continue, especially as we see the economy strengthening,” said Larry Adam, director of investments at Raymond James.
Micron Technology Inc jumped 4.6% after the chipmaker forecast third-quarter revenue higher than Wall Street estimates due to higher demand for memory chips, thanks to 5G smartphones and artificial intelligence software.
Rival Taiwan Semiconductor US-listed shares rose 3.8% as part of its plan to invest $ 100 billion over the next three years to meet growing demand for chips.
The tech-intensive Nasdaq surged 1.48% as ‘high-flying’ stocks including Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc rose 1.1% at 2.4%.
At 10:34 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 123.69 points, or 0.38%, to 33,105.24, the S&P 500 was up 33.86 points, or 0.85%, at 4006.84.
All three major indices are expected to end a week cut short by the holidays with gains, led by the Nasdaq. US stock markets will remain closed for the Good Friday holiday.
The CBOE volatility index fell below 18 points for the first time in 14 months, a level last seen before the global financial market collapse due to coronaviruses in March 2020.
Johnson & Johnson fell 0.5% after the drugmaker said it found a problem with a batch of the drug substance for its COVID-19 vaccine produced by Emergent Biosolutions, whose shares fell 14%.
Rising issues outnumbered declines by a 2.80 to 1 ratio on the NYSE. The escalating problems outnumbered downgradeers by a 2.0 to 1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P Index recorded 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 99 new highs and 22 new lows. (Reporting by Devik Jain and Medha singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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