Stocks traded positive throughout Thursday's session following a record jobs report for June, outweighing the ever looming coronavirus concerns across the United States. All three major benchmarks gained on Thursday, ending the shortened trading week with performance gains. For the week, the Nasdaq climbed 4.62%, S&P 500 jumped 4.02% and the Dow Jones increased 3.25%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics's nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.8 million for June, way more than the 2.9 million consensus economists forecasted. The unemployment rate also fell by greater than expected to 11.1% in June from May's 13.3%. However, jobs still have a long road ahead of them as they push towards recovery. The Labor Department's weekly unemployment claims for the week ended June 27 totaled a higher than expected 1.427 million. Thursday's reading was down slightly from the previous week's upwardly revised 1.482 million. Continuing unemployment was also more than expected, with the total for the week ending June 20 reading 19.29 million, more than the week prior.
Here's how the market closed out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, Tesla
For Stock Sectors, most industries continued to gain throughout Thursday's trading session, with only Real Estate -0.34% and Communication Services -0.07% settling in the red. The rest that posted performance gains were as follows: Materials +1.85%, Energy +1.13%, Industrials +0.80%, Health Care +0.71%, Information Technology +0.50%, Consumer Staples +0.47%, Consumer Discretionary +0.39%, Utilities +0.23% and Financials +0.07%.
For Commodities and Currency, crude oil futures rose on Thursday on the back of more positive economic data and a sharp decline in crude stockpiles. However, the gains are still being held back by coronavirus fears as the United States outbreak continues to reach record daily infections. International benchmark Brent Crude
For Monday, investors will weigh more economic news against coronavirus headlines. The stock market will be close on Friday in observance of Independence Day in the United States.