Stock Market Adds To Record Highs After Better-Than-Expected Unemployment Data

Stock Market Adds To Record Highs After Better-Than-Expected Unemployment Data

Share to Linkedin Fresh off its second-best first half of the year in more than two decades, the S&P 500 added to record highs Thursday morning as jobless claims fell to their lowest level during the pandemic, sparking renewed bullishness in the labor market after a slew of disappointing employment reports. Traders and financial professionals work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Shortly after the market open, the S&P 500, which has closed at record highs for five straight sessions, jumped 0. 2% to 4, 307 points"”surpassing the 4, 300-point threshold at which Goldman Sachs expects the index will end the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, ticked up 74 points, or 0. 2%, to 34, 576"”less than 0. 6% shy of a record high close on May 7, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which reached its latest record Tuesday, also inched higher, climbing 0. 1%. With oil prices hitting a more than two-year high Thursday morning, energy firms, which have far outperformed any other sector this year, continued to head up the market. In the S&P, top-performers Occidental Petroleum, Conocophillips and Schlumberger NV climbed 4. 7%, 3. 3% and 2. 9%, respectively. Fueling morning gains, last