The U.S. stock market grinded higher on Thursday afternoon after
a morning sell-off. Stocks added to their gains heading into the
closing bell and finished the day near session highs. All three
major averages recorded moderate gains. The only major economic
release on Thursday was initial and continuing jobless claims,
which came in mixed.
Initial and Continuing Claims
Initial claims were ahead of estimates, while continuing claims
came in below economists' consensus. Initial jobless claims tallied
371,000 which compared to estimates of 364,000 showing more people
than expected filed for unemployment benefits in the first week of
January.
Continuing claims were 3.109 million. This was below the
consensus estimate of 3.2 million for the week ended December 29,
2012.
Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed near the highs of the
day, notching a gain of almost 81 points, or 0.60 percent, to
finish at 13,471.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 11 points, or 0.76 percent, to
1,472.
The Nasdaq was the laggard on the day, adding around 16 points,
or 0.51 percent, to just below 3,122.
Currencies
The euro currency soared versus the U.S. dollar on Thursday
which helped spur risk appetite. At last check, the EUR/USD pair
was up 1.51 percent to $1.3253. Overall, the greenback was very
weak on the session with the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish
ETF (NYSE:
UUP
) losing more than 1 percent.
Other notable movers included the GBP/USD which jumped 0.81
percent and the AUD/USD which also added 0.81 percent on the
session.
Commodities
NYMEX crude oil was higher on the day while Brent crude was very
slightly lower. At last check, NYMEX crude futures were up 0.87
percent to $93.91 while Brent contracts had lost 0.02 percent to
$111.74. Natural gas recorded a gain of 2.63 percent to $3.20.
Gold and silver also followed stocks higher on Thursday. COMEX
gold futures were last trading up 1.18 percent to $1,675.20 while
silver futures had added almost 2 percent to $30.85. Copper was up
around 1 percent on the day.
Agricultural commodity prices were generally stable with no
movers of over 1 percent. Corn was higher on the session while
wheat was down slightly. In the soft commodity complex, cocoa added
more than 2 percent and coffee and sugar both rose over 1
percent.
Bonds
The bond market was weaker on the session as investors preferred
stocks. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Bond ETF (NYSE:
TLT
) was trading down 0.32 percent to $118.72 late in the day.
The yield on the 2-Year Note was flat while the yield on the
5-Year rose 2 basis points to 0.79 percent. The biggest yield
gainer was the 10-Year Note which added 4 basis points to 1.89
percent. The 30-Year Bond yield rose 2 basis points to 3.08
percent.
Volatility and Volume
The VIX fell around 2.50 percent on the session to 13.46 as
volatility expectations remain very low. The 52-week high in the
VIX is just under 28.
Volume was light once again on Wall Street. Around 102 million
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:
SPY
) shares traded hands on the day compared to a 3-month daily
average of 140.5 million.
Stock Movers
Shares of Herbalife (NYSE:
HLF
) fell a little less than 2 percent on Thursday when the company
held an analyst meeting to refute the allegations of short-seller
Bill Ackman.
Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:
SWHC
) lost almost 4 percent on the session as Vice President Biden was
scheduled to meet with gun store owners ahead of expected new gun
control proposals next week.
Ford (NYSE:
F
) jumped almost 3 percent on the session after the company doubled
its dividend payout.
Molycorp (
MCP
) plunged around 23 percent on the day after poor forward looking
guidance and rumors that the company may do a secondary
offering.
SuperValu (NYSE:
SVU
) jumped more than 14 percent after private equity firm Cerberus
acquired 30 percent of the struggling grocery retailer.
Bazzarvoice (NASDAQ:
BV
) plunged almost 16 percent intra-day after news surfaced that the
FTC was investigating the company over an acquisition.
Tiffany (NYSE:
TIF
) lost roughly 4.50 percent on Thursday after the company provided
disappointing guidance prior to the opening bell.
(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice.
All rights reserved.
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