Stocks rise for a fifth straight day led by tech, Nasdaq closes above 11,000 for the first time; European stocks close lower after Bank of England holds rates; Eurofins up 17%; BELEX15 up 0.18%; Metalac faces drop in sales&profit as expected 
Stocks rose on Thursday, led by tech shares, as traders kept an eye on Washington for clues on a new coronavirus stimulus package and pored over better-than-expected unemployment data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 185.46 points higher, or 0.7%, at 27,386.98. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 3,349.16 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1% to 11,108.07. Thursday marked the Nasdaq’s first close above 11,000 and the average’s seventh straight gain. Both the Dow and S&P 500 posted five-day winning streaks. The S&P 500 also closed just 1.3% below its Feb. 19 record. 
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims for the week ending Aug. 1 totaled 1.186 million. That’s well below a Dow Jones estimate of 1.423 million and the lowest claims level since the pandemic began. 

European stocks closed lower Thursday as investors reacted to the Bank of England’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down by 0.7% provisionally, with basic resources falling over 2% to lead losses as most sectors and major bourses slid into negative territory. 
French diagnostics company Eurofins surged to the top of the European benchmark. Shares of the Paris-listed stock jumped more than 17% after the firm launched a new, lower-cost product to detect the coronavirus. 

BELEX15 was up only symbolic 0.18% as NIS added 0.92%, while very few stocks were traded, among which NIS, Philip Morris, Alfa and Impol Seval. Metalca reported its numbers for daughter units, where we can see that these were actually not so disappointing, while the rest of the year may even neutralize covid19 impact. Cookware unit faced 22% drop in sales, while other units also had 10-50% lower sales and operating profits, for the first 6 months of the year, implying that 2Q was the most affected. 
Source: CNBC, Ilirika