US equities edged higher on Thursday as COVID-19 case data and jobless claims showed progress in reaching a full economic recovery.
Investors added to …
US equities edged higher on Thursday as COVID-19 case data and jobless claims showed progress in reaching a full economic recovery. Investors added to the market’s three-day winning streak as weekly filings for unemployment benefits once again landed below estimates. New US jobless claims dropped to an unadjusted 779,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected claims to total 830,000. The reading marks a third straight weekly decline in claims and the lowest reading in two months. Continuing claims, which track Americans receiving unemployment benefits, fell to 4.7 million for the week that ended January 23. That also beat forecasts. Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday: Read more: Merrill Lynch unpacks why an unexpectedly strong bull market in stocks is forthcoming this year – and shares 5 portfolio strategies for navigating market highs “While the trend is down for the last three weeks of numbers, it’s too early to predict that this begins a strong reversal of excruciatingly high layoffs,” Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said.
