U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, extending their recent record-setting run as better-than-expected economic data boosted sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 170 points, boosted by a 7% jump in Boeing shares. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% after hitting a second record closing high in a row in the previous session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6% to a fresh all-time high.
First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 712,000 last week, lower than an estimate of 780,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Jobless claims also fell for the first time in three weeks as the labor market showed resilience even in the face of a worsening pandemic.
The Labor Department is set to release its closely watched jobs report for November on Friday. The U.S. economy is expected to add 440,000 jobs while the unemployment rate is estimated to decrease to 6.7%, according to Dow Jones.
“With some rumblings of stimulus progress and positive momentum on the vaccine front, labor market watchers could be ever hopeful for a more meaningful decrease in jobless claims in the long run,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade Financial.
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement calling on Republicans to work with them on another round of coronavirus relief funding, using a bipartisan proposal from Senate moderates as a starting point.
“Democratic leaders appear to have yielded on their insistence on a multi-trillion dollar fiscal stimulus package, raising the odds that a deal can be reached before the end of the year,” Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. economist, said in a note Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he has seen “hopeful signs” toward Congress striking a coronavirus stimulus deal before the end of the year.
“Compromise is within reach. We know where we agree. We can do this,” the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor.
Still, McConnell did not endorse the $908 billion proposal after it was released on Tuesday, and he has repeatedly said he believes the next round of stimulus should be smaller at around $500 billion.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus infections have accelerated in the U.S. where more than 100,000 patients are currently hospitalized, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. That is significantly above the peak during the first wave in the spring, when cases were concentrated in the northeastern part of the country.
The U.S. also reported a record 2,800 Covid deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll ever reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
On Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country to grant emergency approval to the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. Regulators in the U.S. are expected to make determinations on that vaccine and a similar vaccine from Moderna later this month, possibly allowing distribution to begin before the start of 2021.
Elsewhere, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would require Chinese companies to adhere to U.S. auditing standards if they want their stocks to be to be listed on exchanges in the United States. The bill now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.
