U.S. stock markets closed higher on Thursday as market participants remained jubilant about a possible end to the Middle East geopolitical conflicts and war. Investors also assessed a series of mixed economic data. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.2% or 115 points to close at 48,578.72. Notably, 18 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 12 ended in negative territory. The major gainer of the blue-chip index was Verizon Communications Inc. VZ.
The stock price of the giant wireless service provider jumped 3.9%. Verizon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 24,102.70, rising 0.4% due to the solid performance by technology bigwigs. This marked the tech-laden index’s new record close. The index touched an intraday all-time high of 24,156.18. The index closed 12 consecutive trading session in green, its longest winning streak since 2009.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3% to finish at 7,041.28, reflecting the benchmark’s new record closing high. The index touched an intraday all-time high of 7,051.23. However, seven out of 11 sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while four ended in positive territory.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Information Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) rose 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively. On the other hand, the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) fell 1.3%, 1.25 and 1%, respectively.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 1.3% to 17.94. A total of 18.01 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 19.1 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.1-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Investors Await Middle East Truce
On Thursday, President Donald Trump reaffirmed that the U.S.-Iran war is “very close to over” as Iran is eager to “make a deal very badly.” Trump had spoken to both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Following these developments, these two countries have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. This was the pre-condition for a possible second round of peace talk between Washington and Tehran probably next week.
Economic Data
The Department of Labor reported that initial claims decreased by 11,000 to 207,000 for the week ended April 11, below the consensus estimate of 223,000. The previous week’s data was revised marginally downward to 218,000 from 219,000 reported earlier.
Continuing claims (those who have already received government aid and reported a week behind) increased 31,000 to 1.818 million for the week ended April 4. The previous week’s level was revised downward by 7,000 to 1,787,000 from 1,794,000 reported earlier.
Industrial production contracted 0.5% in March, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a break-even. The metric for February was revised upward to 0.7% from 0.2% reported earlier. Manufacturing output fell 0.1%. The indexes for mining and utilities fell 1.25 and 2.3%, respectively. However, industrial production rose 2.4% year over year in first-quarter 2026.
Capacity Utilization in March came in at 75.7%, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 76.4%. The metric for February was revised marginally downward to 76.1% from 76.3% reported earlier.
Philadelphia Fed index jumped to 26.7 in April from 18.1 in March. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 12.
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