Wall Street rebounds on tech boost after fewer jobless claims data

CBOE volatility index eases from 2-month high; energy stocks fall as oil declines over 2%

Technology stocks helped Wall Street's main indexes rebound on Thursday after three sessions of declines, as data showed fewer Americans filed for weekly jobless claims, while investors shrugged off a surge in producer prices.
 

The Labor Department's data showed U.S. producer prices rose 0.6% last month, after a gain of 1% in March. A separate report indicated claims for U.S. unemployment benefits increased 473,000 in the latest week.
 

A surge in commodity prices, labor shortage and much stronger-than-expected consumer prices data this week have stoked inflation concerns that could force the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, despite its reassurances that the rise in prices to be temporary.
 

"All of this comes down to the fact that the market believes that the Fed is going to have to do something sooner than anticipated," said Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark.
 

"Perhaps we're not in a situation where market has come down and we're going to stay there for an extended period of time.

We're in a more volatile time period where we could see swings one way or the other."
 

Losses in the past three days had pulled the S&P 500 4% off its record closing high on Friday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was about 8% below its April 29 all-time high.
 

Technology stocks and consumer discretionary , the most battered among the 11 major S&P sectors this week, led gains on Thursday.
 

The CBOE volatility index, a measure of investor anxiety, retreated to 24.11 points after hitting its highest levels in more than two months.
 

At 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 265.35 points, or 0.79%, at 33,853.01, the S&P 500 was up 31.19 points, or 0.77%, at 4,094.23, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 99.10 points, or 0.76%, at 13,130.78.
 

The energy index was the only one trading in the red as oil prices shed more than 2%.
 

The inflation talk has increased focus on economic data, with attention turning to retail sales and industrial production reports on Friday.
 

Dating app owner Bumble Inc shed another 11.6% despite forecasting current-quarter revenue above estimates. The stock has lost about 19% of its value in the past three sessions.
 

Walt Disney's shares gained 0.7% ahead of its second-quarter results due after the closing bell.
 

Boeing Co rose 2.8% after the U.S. planemaker won approval from U.S. regulators for a fix of an electrical grounding issue that had affected about 100 737 MAX airplanes.
 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 10 new highs and 33 new lows.