On Thursday, U.S. stocks posted modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44 points (+0.15%) to 29483, the S&P 500 added 14 points (+0.39%) to 3581, and the Nasdaq 100 gained 90 points (+0.76%) to 11985.
Nasdaq 100 Index (Daily Chart) : Still Bullish
Stocks bounced after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had agreed to revive fiscal stimulus talks.
Energy (+1.53%), Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (+1.32%) and Food & Staples Retailing (+1.13%) sectors put up the best performance. Coty Inc (COTY +17.92%), L Brands (LB +17.67%), Mylan (VTRS +11.86%) and Devon Energy (DVN +6.27%) were top gainers.
Tesla (TSLA +2.60%) closed at an all-time high of $499.27.
Approximately 89% (90% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 80% (85% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.
U.S. official data showed that Initial Jobless Claims unexpectedly rose to 742,000 (700,000 expected), while Existing Homes Sales jumped to an annualized rate of 6.85 million units in October (6.47 million units expected), the most since 2006. The Conference Board Leading Index rose 0.7% on month in October (as expected).
European stocks were broadly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.75%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.88%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.67%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.80%.
U.S. Treasury prices traded higher, as the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield declined to 0.850% from 0.880% Wednesday.
Spot gold fell $4 (-0.26%) to $1,867 an ounce.
U.S. WTI crude futures (January) rose $0.14 (+0.33%) to $41.96 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar gave up early gains to trade lower against most other major currencies. The ICE Dollar Index closed lower at 92.30 extending its decline to a sixth session.
EUR/USD pared losses to close 0.18% higher at 1.1875. The pair remains at levels above both 20-day and 50-day moving averages.
GBP/USD edged lower to 1.3262. On a daily chart, the pair stays at elevated levels close to the upper Bollinger band.
USD/JPY stepped lower to 103.74 posting a six-day losing streak.
USD/CHF eased 0.08% to 0.9106, and USD/CAD edged down 0.07% to 1.3072.
AUD/USD declined 0.23% to 0.7288. According to official data, Australia’s economy added 178,800 jobs in October (-27,500 jobs expected), while the jobless rate edged up to 7.0% (7.1% expected).
