The market rebound was also supported by the release of the results of the Treasury Department's auction of $22 billion worth of thirty-year bonds, which revealed the sale attracted average demand. The thirty-year bond auction drew a high yield of 4.671 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.37, while the ten previous thirty-year bond auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.39. The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.
At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index edged down 2.43 points, or 0.01%, to 38,459.08. The S&P500 index climbed up 38.42 points, or 0.74%, to 5,199.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index increased by 271.84 points, or 1.68%, to 16,442.20.
Total 6 of 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with financial sector was bottom performer, falling 0.58%, while information technology was top performer, rising 2.36%.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Producer Prices Rise 0.2% In March- The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing U.S. producer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of March. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand crept up by 0.2% in March after climbing by 0.6% in February. Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 2.1% in March from 1.6% in February. The modest monthly increase in producer prices was led by higher services prices, which rose by 0.3% for the second straight month. Prices for transportation and warehousing services advanced by 0.8%, while prices for trade services rose by 0.3% and prices for other services crept up by 0.2%. On the other hand, the Labe Department said prices for goods edged down by 0.1%, with a 1.6% slump in energy prices helping offset a 0.8% increase in food prices. The report also said producer prices excluding food, energy and trade services rose by 0.2% in March after climbing by 0.3% in February. The annual rate of growth by producer prices excluding food, energy and trade services inched up to 2.8% in March from 2.7% in February.
US Weekly Jobless Claims Pull Back Off Two-Month High- A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected in the week ended April 6th after reaching a two-month high in the previous week. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 211,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 222,000. Jobless claims in the week ended March 30th were at their highest level since reaching 225,000 in the week ended January 27th. The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 214,250, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 214,500. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 28,000 to 1.817 million in the week ended March 30th. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also crept up to 1,802,750, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,799,250.
US Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.5% In February- A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of February. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories climbed by 0.5% in February after edging down by a revised 0.2% in January. The rebound by wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable goods jumped by 1%, more than offsetting a 0.3% decrease by inventories of non-durable goods. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales surged by 2.3% in February after tumbling by 1.4% in January. Sales of durable goods shot up by 1.6% during the month, while sales of non-durable goods spiked by 3.0%. With sales jumping by much more than inventories, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers fell to 1.34 in February from 1.36 in January.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
