STORY: Wall Street closed higher Thursday after weekly jobless claims data offered fresh hope for interest-rate cuts.
The Dow rose nearly nine tenths of a percent, its seventh straight day of gains, the S&P 500 added half of one percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed almost three tenths.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 last week.
It follows data last week showing slowing job growth in April and job openings falling to a three-year low in March.
This has renewed hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will reduce its benchmark interest rate as soon as September.
The Wealth Consulting Group CEO Jimmy Lee says this latest piece of data is another positive sign for investors and corporate America.
"I think it supports what we saw last week and the jobs number being a little bit less than what you know people were predicting. And so I definitely think we're starting to see a slowing of the economy, but I'm still on the bullish side on the consumer, that consumers still have jobs and are spending money still. And so I do believe that interest rates going down sooner than later will be definitely helpful for our economy."
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"I think everybody is looking forward to a lower interest rate world where there's more business. Deals are going to happen and more capex spending and I think that's what we're looking forward to. And I think that there's some optimism around that."
Stocks on the move included Arm Holdings. The semiconductor designer slid two percent as its full-year revenue forecast came in below expectations.
And shares of Robinhood Markets fell three percent, despite the online brokerage beating estimates for first-quarter profit, thanks to robust crypto trading volumes and rate hikes that boosted its net interest revenue.
