Dow Jones Hits Record High Second Day In Row On US Jobs Optimism

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street's broadest equity barometer, hit record highs for a second straight day on Thursday on optimism that the rapidly improving US labor market will accelerate the United States' recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic-related measures.

The Dow crossed 34,500 points for the first time ever after filings for jobless benefits, a key weekly indicator of US employment, fell for a fourth week in a row and to levels last seen in March 2020 - just before the implosion of the labor market from the coronavirus outbreak.

The Down closed the session up 0.9 percent, or 319 points, at 34,549, after a record high at 34,561.

For the year, the index was up almost 13 percent.

The S&P 500 index, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, settled up 0.8 percent, or 34 points, at 4,201.

The Nasdaq Composite index, which groups Big Tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, microsoft and Google, gained 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 13,633.

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that some 498,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week, the lowest since March 2020 and the first below the 500,000 mark since the US outbreak of COVID-19 last year. Employment numbers for all of April will be reported on Friday.