New York Stock Market Hits Another Record on Improved Unemployment Data... Nasdaq Surpasses 15,300 Points

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The U.S. New York stock market once again reached an all-time high, buoyed by news that initial jobless claims hit their lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 2nd (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 35,443.82, up 131.29 points (0.37%) from the previous session.

The S&P 500 index rose 12.86 points (0.28%) to 4,536.95, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index ended trading at 15,331.18, up 21.80 points (0.14%).

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices, which closed at record highs on the 31st of last month, set new records again after two days. The S&P 500 recorded its 54th all-time high this year, and the Nasdaq surpassed the 15,300 mark.

By sector, energy-related stocks led the gains with a 2% rise, while healthcare and industrial stocks also increased by more than 1%. Among individual stocks, Apple’s share price rose 0.75%, closing at $153.65, marking a record closing high.

Verizon’s stock rose about 0.6% after announcing a 2% increase in its quarterly dividend to 64 cents per share.

Amid fears over the Delta variant, weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level since the pandemic, boosting investor sentiment with expectations of employment recovery.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending August 28 was 340,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis.

This figure slightly missed experts’ forecast of 345,000 and is the lowest level since March 14, 2020 (256,000).

The less volatile 4-week moving average of initial jobless claims was 355,000, down 11,750 from the previous week’s revised figure, marking the lowest level since March last year.

Mike Loewengart, investment strategist at E*TRADE, said, "With initial jobless claims hitting their lowest level since the pandemic, optimism about the employment situation is growing. Solid employment data is a positive sign for economic recovery and could be a turning point that accelerates the Federal Reserve’s tapering timeline."

The trade deficit for July, announced on the same day, was $70.05 billion, down 4.3% from the previous month and below experts’ forecast of $70.9 billion. The June trade deficit was revised downward from $75.7 billion to $73.2 billion.

Nonfarm productivity for the second quarter was revised to an annualized 2.1% increase from the previous quarter (seasonally adjusted). This figure was lowered from the preliminary estimate of 2.3% and below the market forecast of 2.4%.

July factory orders rose 0.4% from the previous month, exceeding the expert forecast of a 0.3% increase but slowing compared to June’s 1.5% growth rate.

U.S. economic media CNBC cited a report from Credit Suisse (CS) analyzing that there is still room for further stock price gains.

In its report, CS stated, "The U.S. stock market continues its upward march with low volatility. Indicators such as position breadth, size, and sentiment are all positive, suggesting this upward trend will continue to set new highs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.