Wall Street Closes at Record Highs on Employment Data

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) continued to break record highs on Thursdays, with Wall Street investors reacting to the decline in jobless claims and ahead of the release of July’s employment data.

The initial claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell by 14,000 to 385,000 last week and layoffs declined to their lowest level in over two decades.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average restored the 35,000-point level, after gaining 271.58 points, or 0.78%, to close at 35,064.25 points.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose by 26.44 points, or 0.6%, to finish at a record 4,429.10 points.

The Nasdaq Composite also settled at a new record high of 14,895.12 points, after rising by 114.58 points, or 0.8%.

Recently released positive earnings reports contributed to an improvement in investors sentiment among fears over the spread of the Delta variant of the Coronavirus, and a hawkish tone by Fed officials suggesting tapering could begin sooner than previously expected.

Markets are anticipating the release of last month’s jobs report, which is due on Friday.

It is expected that the U.S. economy added about 845,000 new jobs in July, according to a Wall Street Journal survey, while the unemployment rate has likely further declined to 5.7% from 5.9% in June.

It is worth noting that jobs numbers are a major factor that will determine the direction of the Fed’s policy adjustments, with Chairman Jerome Powell recently pointing to an anticipated substantial further progress marked by positive jobs numbers.