U.S. Stocks Extend Yesterday's Rally, Turning Positive For The Week

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. With the continued advance, the major averages more than offset the sell-off seen on Monday, turning positive for the week.

The major average pulled back off their best levels in late-day trading but remained firmly positive. The Dow soared 506.50 points or 1.5 percent to 34,764.82, the Nasdaq jumped 155.40 points or 1 percent to 15,052.24 and the S&P 500 surged up 53.34 points or 1.2 percent to 4,448.98.

Stocks continued to regain ground following the slump seen earlier this month, which dragged the Dow to its lowest closing level in three months on Tuesday.

The strength on Wall Street also came amid easing concerns about Evergrande after the Chinese property developer reached a settlement with mainland bondholders.

The People's Bank of China's infusion of massive capital into the country's banking system has also eased concerns about a potential default by Evegrande.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased for the second straight week in the week ended September 18th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 351,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level of 335,000.

With the uptick, jobless claims climbed further off the pandemic-era low of 312,000 set in the week ended September 4th.

The continued rebound surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to dip to 320,000 from the 332,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Traders also continue to digest the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, when the central bank signaled tapering asset purchases could be coming "soon."

Sector News

Oil service stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 5.2 percent.

The rally by oil service stocks came amid another sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for November delivery jumping $1.07 to $73.30 a barrel.

Substantial strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 3.5 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index.

Airline stocks also saw considerable strength, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3 percent to its best closing level in over two months.

Natural gas, brokerage, and computer hardware stocks also moved notably higher, while gold stocks were among the few groups to buck the uptrend amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Thursday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 1.2 percent.

Most European stocks also moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved notably lower over the course of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 7.6 basis points to a two-month closing high of 1.410 percent.

Looking Ahead

A report on new home sales in the month of August may attract attention on Friday along with remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and several other Fed officials.