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U.S. weekly jobless claims fall; layoffs jump in March
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Non-farm payrolls data due on Friday
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AMC jumps as court order hinders stock conversion plan
(Updates with end of trading session)
By Noel Randewich and Ankika Biswas
April 6 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended higher
on Thursday, helped by a rally in Alphabet shares as investors,
worried about a slowing economy, looked to upcoming jobs data.
Alphabet Inc and Microsoft provided more
fuel than any other stocks for the S&P 500's gain for the
session. Alphabet's Google unit plans to add artificial
intelligence features to its search engine, the Wall Street
Journal reported.
Adding to recent data hinting at a weak labor market, initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 228,000 for the week ended April 1, versus expectations of 200,000 claims. The Labor Department's data from the prior week was revised to show 48,000 more applications were received. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 14.42 points, or 0.36%, to end at 4,104.80 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 91.10 points, or 0.76%, to 12,087.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.46 points, or 0.01%, to 33,486.18. Wall Street has lost ground in recent days in response to signs of a slowing economy, including weak data on private payrolls and job openings earlier this week.
That marked a change from recent months, when investors cheered weak economic data on the basis that it might mean the Fed's interest rate hikes were working and that the Fed could ease up on its campaign to rein in decades-high inflation. Interest rate futures imply traders are divided about whether the Fed will raise its target rate or keep it steady at its upcoming May meeting, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.
"The market is trying to decide whether the 'growth and
recession' scare or the 'Fed hiking' scare are more meaningful
to prices, and so it's waffling between whether a softening
labor market is good news because it gets the Fed to pause in
May or bad news because it means the recession is actually
coming," said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at
Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.
Investors are now focused on the more comprehensive report
on non-farm payrolls, which are expected to have increased by
239,000 in March, down from the 311,000 jobs added in the prior
month. That report is due on Friday, when the U.S. stock market
will be closed for the Good Friday holiday.
Caterpillar , viewed as a bellwether for the
industrial sector, dipped for a third straight day as investors
fretted about a potential economic downturn.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc surged after a U.S.
court denied the theater operator's request to lift a status quo
order necessary for its plan to convert preferred shares to
common shares.
Levi Strauss & Co tumbled after the apparel maker
posted a fall in quarterly profit.
Big banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co and
Citigroup will be among companies kicking off the
quarterly reporting season next week, with investors eager for
updates on the health of the sector after a recent banking
crisis.
Analysts on average expect aggregate S&P 500 company
earnings for the first quarter to have fallen 5% year-over-year,
according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S.
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(Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru,
and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Anil
D'Silva, Arun Koyyur, Shounak Dasgupta and Deepa Babington)
