Stocks were mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing to a fresh record while the broader market slumped, as strong economic data continued to ease the market recession concerns. The 30-stock index advanced over 160 points, while the Nasdaq Composite settled above the flatline and the S&P 500 dipped lower after setting a new intraday record earlier in the session.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.02% or -1.00 points to 5,841.47
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.37% or +161.35 points to 43,239.05
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.04% or +6.53 points to 18,373.61
Moving Markets:
U.S. Retail Sales rose at a better-than-expected rate in September, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, signaling the continued strength of the overall economy.
Sales increase by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% on the month, up from August's unrevised 0.1% gain and ahead of Dow Jones' consensus forecast of 0.3% growth. Excluding auto sales, September's print rose by a better-than-expected 0.5%.
Initial Unemployment Claims totaled a less-than-expected 241,000 for the week ending October 12, the Labor Department reported Thursday, marking a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. Continuing claims, which are tracked a week behind, rose by 9,000 to a total of 1,867,000.
In the News:
The European Central Bank (ECB) lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points for the third time this year as policymakers see good progress on inflation.
"Domestic inflation remains high, as wages are still rising at an elevated pace. At the same time, labour cost pressures are set to continue easing gradually, with profits partially buffering their impact on inflation," the ECB said in a statement.
Lucid Group (NYSE: LCID) shares fell lower Thursday after the electric vehicle start-up announced plans to sell roughly 262.5 million shares of its common stock in a public offering. The company also said Ayar Third Investment, its majority stockholder, will purchase more than 374.7 million shares in a "private placement concurrently with the public offering."
Deutsche Bank analyst Lauren Silberman raised the firm's price target on McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) ahead of the burger chain's third-quarter earnings report, implying a 10% rise from its Wednesday closing price at a new target of $345.
"While MCD has outperformed peers in recent months, the stock has notably underperformed the market YTD and we believe sentiment should continue to remain positive given improving fundamentals in what we expect to remain a challenging and value-centric backdrop," Silberman wrote in a Thursday note to clients. "We see MCD as well positions to outperform in this environment."
On the Earnings Front:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM) reported strong third-quarter earnings on Thursday, with its net revenue rising 36% year-ov-ery-ary to $23.5 billion, with the company attributing much of its growth to high artificial intelligence-related demand.
"Based on the current business outlook, we expect for our fourth-quarter revenue to be between $26.1 billion and $26.9 billion, which represents a 13% sequential increase or a 35% year-over-year increase at the midpoint," CEO Wendell Huang said during the company's earnings call with analysts.
For Friday:
Market participants will turn their attention towards fresh housing market data for September as well as earnings reports from companies including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).