Dow rises over 200 points, S&P 500 notches record close ahead of Friday’s key jobs report 

 

The major U.S. equity indexes rose Thursday and the S&P 500 set a new record closing high as energy and travel stocks bounced back ahead of a key labor market report. 

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 271.58 points, or nearly 0.8%, to close at 35,064.25. The S&P 500 added 0.6% to finish at a new all-time high of 4,429.10, while the Nasdaq Composite rose about 0.8% to 14,895.12. The moves in the stocks came after a mostly lower regular session on Wednesday, in which the Dow dropped more than 300 points. 

 

Weekly initial jobless claims came in at 385,000 on Thursday, in-line with expectations. 

 

Shares of Roku dropped roughly 4% after the company issued quarterly results on Wednesday and reported a slowdown in streaming TV viewing. Etsy fell 9.7% after the company gave guidance for the current quarter that indicated the pandemic-fueled commerce boom may be coming to an end. 

 

During regular trading Wednesday, shares of Robinhood surged 50%, continuing a volatile jump after last week’s soft initial public offering. However, the stock reversed course on Thursday and fell more than 27% following the announcement that some stockholders will sell more than 97 million shares. 

 

Adidas upped its outlook for the year, despite a drop in sales in China as some consumers boycotted the German sportwear brand for its stance against alleged human rights abuses. Shares fell 5.6%. 

 

Pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA saw its second-quarter profits beat expectations, on the back of increased demand for lab equipment and supplies for developing Covid-19 treatments and vaccines. Merck shares gained 6.7%. 

 

Source: CNBC, Investing.com