The major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Thursday. The S&P 500 climbed 1.43% to close at 4520.16. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 went up on Thursday as well with the Information Technology sector gaining +2.71%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.02% to 34707.94 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite went up by 1.93% to close at 14191.84.
Economic Reports
Initial jobless claims for the dropped for the week ending March 19 from 215,000 to 187,000.
Continuing jobless claims for the week ending March 12 came in at 1.35 million, compared with 1.42 million the week before.
Durable goods orders in February went from 1.6% to -2.2%.
Core capital goods orders in February also saw a drop from 1.3% to -0.3%.
Current account deficit for the fourth quarter was -$218 billion.
S&P Global (Markit) manufacturing PMI for March went up from 57.3 to 58.5.
S&P Global (Markit) services PMI saw an increase to 58.9 in March, in comparison to 56.5 the month before.
Markets
The SP 500 is up by 1.43% to close at 4520.16. The index is up 2.46% over five days, up 5.40% over one month, down 4.35% over three months and up 15.62% over one year.
The trailing P/E is 24.53 compared to 44.63 one year ago and estimated future P/E 16.52. Dividend yield is currently 1.42 compared with 1.49 one year ago.
Leading stocks were NVDA up 9.82%, INTL up 6.94%, MPWR up 6.66%, AMD up 5.80% and AMAT up 5.46%.
Trailing stocks were EPAM down 6.07%, NLSN down 3.79%, OXY down 3.49%, FBHS down 2.48% and POOL down 2.09%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up 1.02% to close at 34707.94. The DOW is up 0.66% over five days, up 4.47% over one month, down 3.46% over three months and up 6.40% over one year.
The trailing P/E is 19.27 compared with 33.11 year ago and an estimated future P/E of 18.00. The current dividend yield is 2.03% compared with 1.83 one year ago.
Leading stocks were INTL up 6.94%, AAPL up 2.27%, UNH up 2.03%, MCD down 1.75% and BA down 1.62%.
Trailing stocks were NKE down 0.69%, HD down 0.40%, CAT up 0.02%, CSCO up 0.04% and VZ down 0.06%.
The NASDAQ composite went up 1.93% and closed at 14191.84. NASDAQ is up 4.24% over five days, up 5.33% over one month, down 9.34% over 3 months and up 9.36% over one year.
Leading stocks were INM up 39.07%, SDH up 37.31%, AGRI up 34.89%, RKDA up 33.67% and APVO up 32.82%.
Trailing stocks were LIQT down 36.32%, VEV down 27.08%, VLCN down 17.87%, NOVO down 16.28%, and DFFN down 16.25%.
The MidCap SP400 went up by 1.10% to close at 2693.66. The SP400 is up 0.35% for the past 5 days, up 4.05% for the past month, down 3.65% for the past 3 months and up 4.93% over the past year.
Leading stocks were CLF up 12.04%, EQT up 7.11% and CMC up 6.75%.
Trailing stocks were NEOG down 8.00%, BLDR down 5.39% and SNX down 5.27%
The SmallCap SP600 is up by 0.82% to close at 1322.67. The SP600 is down 0.63% for the past 5 days, up 3.16% for the past month, down 4.66% for the past 3 months and up 1.74% over the past year.
Leading stocks were IRBT up 12.55%, OXM up 11.23% and MOV up 8.85%.
Trailing stocks were CVCO down 8.27%, LNTH down 8.23% and GMS down 6.46%.
The CBOE VIX is down by 8.06% and closed at 21.67. The VIX is down 15.58% over five days, down 28.53% over one month, up 20.66% over three months and up 9.39% over one year.
On the New York stock exchange 2184 stocks advanced and 1145 declined, while on Nasdaq 3137 advanced and 1545 declined.
There were 95 new 52 week highs and 98 new 52 week lows on NYSE with 77 new highs and 103 new lows on NASDAQ.
The 2 year Treasury note yield is 2.135% and 10 year is 2.375%. The 10-year yield is up 22.2% over five days, up 40.6% over one month, up 88.0% three months ago, and up 69.0% one year ago.
SP500 Sector Performance % Change:
Information Technology +2.71
Materials +1.96
Communication Services +1.69
Health Care +1.15
Utilities +0.99
Financials +0.76
Industrials +0.75
Consumer Discretionary +0.73
Real Estate +0.64
Consumer Staples +0.62
Energy +0.13
Information Technology has been up 4.66% over five days, up 4.48% over one month, down 8.30% over three months and up 22.69% over one year.
Energy has been up 5.13% over five days, up 15.82% over one month, up 40.53% over three months and up 58.29% over one year.