At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index added 300.19 points, or 0.99%, to 30,603.36. The S&P 500 index rose 36.61 points, or 0.98%, to 3,787.38. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index grew 66.5.6 points, or 0.5%, to 13,337.16.
Heavyweights, including Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com and Alphabet Inc, were among the biggest boosts to the market.
Shares in GameStop Corp and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc tumbled more than 40% after a meteoric rise in recent sessions in a social media-driven trading frenzy that shook stock markets. Trading platforms, including Robinhood and Interactive Brokers, restricted trading in several stocks that soared this week, easing concerns about a ripple effect to the broader market.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US GDP Growth Jumps 4% In Q4--US real gross domestic product jumped by 4% in the fourth quarter after skyrocketing by 33.4% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. Despite the rebound in the second half of the year, GDP for 2020 contracted by 3.5% following the 2.2% growth seen in 2019. The GDP growth in the fourth quarter reflected increases in exports, non-residential fixed investment, consumer spending, residential fixed investment, and private inventory investment. The positive contributions were partly offset by decreases in state and local government spending and federal government spending as well as an increase in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP. The notable slowdown in the pace of GDP growth compared to the previous quarter came as consumer spending increased by a relatively modest 2.5% in the fourth quarter after spiking by 41% in the third quarter.
US New Home Sales Jump 1.6% In December-
US new home sales rebounded by 1.6% to an annual rate of 842,000 in December after plunging by 12.6% to a revised rate of 829,000 in November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. Despite the rebound, the annual rate of new home sales in December remains well below the fourteen-year high of 979,000 set in July. New home sales in the Midwest led the rebound, spiking by 30.6% to an annual rate of 94,000, while new home sales in the West jumped by 8.8% to a rate of 234,000. On the other hand, the report showed new home sales in the South slumped by 5.1% to a rate of 483,000 and new home sales in the Northeast tumbled by 6.1% to a rate of 31,000. The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in December was $355,900, up 3.5% from $343,900 in November and up 8% from $329,500 a year ago. The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 302,000, representing 4.3 months of supply at the current sales rate. For all of 2020, an estimated 811,000 new homes were sold, reflecting an 18.8% spike from the 2019 figure of 683,000.
US Weekly Jobless Claims Drop To 847,000--US initial jobless claims fell to 847,000, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week's revised level of 914,000, a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed. Jobless claims declined for the second consecutive week after reaching a more than four-month high of 927,000 in the week ended January 9th.
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