At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 239.79 points, or 0.68%, to 35,730.48. The S&P500 index added 44.74 points, or 0.98%, to 4,596.42. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 212.28 points, or 1.39%, to 15,448.12.
Total volume turnover on U.S. exchanges stood at 10.17 billion shares, down from yesterday's 10.71 billion shares. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE exchange by 2320 to 1014 and 128 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 3229 issues advanced, 1306 issues declined, and 244 issues unchanged.
All 11 sectors ended up along with the S&P500 index, with real estate (up 1.47%) was best performing sector, meanwhile consumer discretionary (up 1.37%), industrials (up 1.29%), financials (up 1.24%), information technology (up 1.06%), and materials (up 1.02%) issues were also notable gainers.
Shares of Ford advanced after the auto giant reported much better than expected third quarter earnings and raised its full-year guidance. Ford Motor Company lifted its 2021 profit forecast for the second time in as many quarters and is now projecting $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion in earnings before interest and taxes.
Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev shares also spiked after raising its full-year forecast following a strong third quarter.
Shares of Caterpillar and Merck (MRK) also moved up after the heavy equipment maker and drugmaker reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations. Caterpillar Inc. announced third-quarter 2021 sales and revenues of $12.4 billion, a 25% increase compared with $9.9 billion in the third quarter of 2020, due to higher sales volume, driven by higher end-user demand for equipment and services, and favorable price realization. Merck revenues rose 20% year over year (19% on a constant currency basis) to $13.2 billion in the third-quarter 2021, driven by increased demand for its cancer drugs and vaccines and higher sales of Animal health products.
On the other hand, shares of eBay declined after the ecommerce giant reported better than expected third quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Labor Market Continues To Recover- First-time claims for US unemployment benefits decreased for the fourth straight week in the week ended October 23rd, the Labor Department revealed in a report released on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 281,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 291,000. With the modest decrease, jobless claims once again fell to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.
US Pending Home Sales Fall In September- US pending home sales showed a notable pullback in the month of September after spiking in August, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday. NAR said its pending home sales slumped by 2.3% to 116.7 in September after surging 8.1% to 119.4 in August. A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. With the monthly decrease, pending home sales in September were down by 8.0% compared to the same month a year ago.
US GDP Growth Weaker At 2% In Q3- US real gross domestic product increased by 2.0% in the third quarter after jumping by 6.7% in the second quarter, according to preliminary data released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The bigger than expected slowdown in GDP growth came as consumer spending rose by just 1.6% in the third quarter after spiking by 12.0% in the second quarter. Spending on durable goods plummeted by 26.2% in the third quarter after surging by 11.6% in the second quarter, while growth in spending on services slowed to 7.9% from 11.5%.
COMMODITY NEWS: Crude oil prices were mixed on Thursday, as preliminary OPEC+ figures signalled a tighter global oil market in the December quarter. World crude inventories are expected to decline by an average of 1.1 million barrels a day. The Brent crude price fell by US26 cents or 0.3% to US$84.32 a barrel. The US Nymex crude price gained US15 cents or 0.2% to US$82.81 a barrel.
Among Indian ADR, Vedanta dropped 1.1% to $16.01, Tata Motors shed 1% to $32.04, Dr Reddys Labs fell 0.39% to $61.07, Wipro fell 0.55% to $9.12, and ICICI Bank sank 2% to $21.29. WNS Holdings added 5.54% to $89.19, INFOSYS added 0.04% to $22.56, and HDFC Bank shed 1.07% to $74.31.
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