Stocks rose higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 notching another fresh closing high, as investor concerns over inflation eased ahead of February's jobs numbers. The broader market index rose over 1% to settle at 5,157.36, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 130 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5%.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.03% or +52.60 points to 5,157.36
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.34% or +130.30 points to 38,791.35
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.51% or +241.83 points to 16,273.38
In the News: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that inflation appears to be nearing the level where policymakers will be more confident to lower interest rates.
"We're waiting to become more confident that inflation is moving sustainably at 2%. When we do get that confidence, and we're not far from it, it will be appropriate to begin to dial back the level of restriction," Powell said, adding that the cuts will be necessary so that the central bank avoids a recession to "normalize policy as the economy gets back to normal."
Career transitioning firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday that announced layoffs in February reached their highest level for the month since 2009, as planned job cuts totaled 84,638 last month -- representing a 3% increase from January and 9% annual rise. Still, February 2009's planned layoffs totaled 186,350 positions as the global financial crisis impacts continued to weakened the labor market.
"As we navigate the start of 2024, we're witnessing a persistent wave of layoffs. Businesses are aggressively slashing costs and embracing technological innovations, actions that are significantly reshaping staffing needs," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a statement.
In Single- Stock News: Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) shares reached a fresh record high on Thursday after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported positive early trial data for its new weight loss drug amycretin. The experimental obesity drug showed a 13.3% weight loss in participants over 12 weeks in a Phase I trial, Reuters reports, outpacing its other weight loss drug Wegovy's 6% loss during a similar trial period.
In Economic News: Initial unemployment claims remained unchanged week-over-week and came in-line with expectations, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, as the labor market continued to remain resilient. Jobless claims totaled 217,000 for the week ended March 2, matching the previous week's upwardly revised print. Meanwhile, continuing unemployment claims, which are tracked a week behind, totaled about 1.9 million, also coming in-line with expectations and rising 8,000 from the previous week.
On the Earnings Front: Victoria's Secret (NYSE: VSCO) shares dropped nearly 30% on Thursday after the apparel company reported mixed fourth-quarter results and offered disappointing forward guidance. The company expects bigger-than-expected declines in first-quarter revenue and full year revenues to fall in the low single digits.
"As we look into the new year, we recognize the broader intimates market in North America has been down for four consecutive quarters and we are planning the business appropriately conservative in the near term," CEO Martin waters said in a statement.
For Friday: All eyes will be on the Labor Department's "official" jobs report for February.