US close: Wall Street finishes higher as investors digest tsunami of data
Wall Street trading ended well into the green on Thursday, as investors shrugged off the trade conflict between the US and China and thumbed through a slew of data releases.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.95% at 26,656.98, the S&P 500 was ahead 0.78% at 2,930.75, and the Nasdaq 100 leapt 1.05% to 7,569.03.
“Investors are continuing to monitor the main political stories, which have been an important driver of risk appetite for much of the year, but the latest tariffs didn't catch anyone off guard and so the impact has been marginal,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.
On the macroeconomic calendar, US jobless claims moved lower still over the latest week, underlining the ongoing strength of the labour market.
According to the US Department of Labor, initial claims for the week ending on 20 September slipped by 3,000 to 201,000.
The four-week moving average meanwhile, which aims to smooth out the variations from one week to the next, fell by 2,250 to 205,750.
Elsewhere, factory sector activity in the US mid-Atlantic region bounced back sharply in September on the back of a big increase in firms' new orders, according to the results of a widely-followed survey.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing sector index improved from August's reading of 11.9 to 22.9.
The consensus forecast was for a reading of 15.0.
Lastly, existing-home sales held steady month-on-month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34m in August as housing starts began to fumble, the National Association of Realtors said.
Existing-home sales were 1.5% lower than a year ago.
The flat reading fell short of consensus expectations of a reading of 5.37m.
In corporate news, Darden Restaurants reversed earlier gains to end down 1.22%, despite the Olive Garden parent's first-quarter earnings coming in better than expected.
Software company Red Hat was 6.53% lower after it posted lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue late on Thursday, and recreational vehicle maker Thor Industries tumbled 13.01% after the release of its quarterly earnings.
Comcast rose 1.31%, 21st Century Fox fell 0.11% and Walt Disney added 1.67% after the UK's takeover panel said it would begin an auction process for London-listed broadcaster Sky this weekend.
Facebook was up 1.82% and Twitter was ahead 1.12% despite the EU announcing the companies could face sanctions if they don't comply with European consumer rules by the end of the year.
Dow Jones - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $47.20 2.28%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $72.89 2.26%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $156.01 2.12%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $70.04 1.89%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $113.57 1.67%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.62 1.67%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $85.36 1.62%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $46.64 1.48%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $151.15 1.40%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $134.15 1.25%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $211.06 -0.29%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $119.45 -0.08%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $84.82 0.22%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $266.39 0.40%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $95.76 0.54%
Boeing Co. (BA) $367.46 0.61%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $220.03 0.76%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $237.40 0.77%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.95 0.84%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $118.64 0.86%
S&P 500 - Risers
Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $20.00 6.61%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $17.83 3.66%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $31.83 3.58%
Spectra Energy Corp. (SE) $13.93 3.57%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $153.23 3.25%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $91.61 3.09%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $18.41 3.02%
Keycorp (KEY) $20.75 2.88%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $22.90 2.88%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $60.05 2.84%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Red Hat Inc. (RHT) $133.81 -6.53%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $61.03 -4.85%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $42.91 -3.49%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $301.67 -3.47%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $76.95 -3.23%
General Electric Co. (GE) $12.47 -3.11%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $90.44 -2.62%
Apache Corp. (APA) $45.67 -2.41%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $119.41 -2.20%
L3 Technologies Inc (LLL) $210.36 -2.15%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $213.19 4.15%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $153.23 3.25%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $91.61 3.09%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $60.05 2.84%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $95.10 2.72%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $59.58 2.49%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $83.38 2.47%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $28.25 2.32%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $323.08 2.30%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $86.22 2.30%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $119.41 -2.20%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $266.28 -2.10%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $107.01 -1.82%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $73.05 -1.27%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $284.76 -0.84%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $96.43 -0.54%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $365.36 -0.44%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $110.44 -0.42%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $36.62 -0.41%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $298.33 -0.23%