Benzinga - by Akanksha Bakshi, Benzinga Editor.
On Thursday, February 8th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, with the S&P approaching the 5,000-point mark, influenced by earnings reports and data on U.S. employment.
In economic data, U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 218,000 last week, beating forecasts of 220,000. Meanwhile, December saw a 0.4% rise in wholesale inventories, reversing the prior month’s 0.4% drop.
Most S&P 500 sectors finished in the green, with energy, real estate, and communication services leading the gains. In contrast, the utilities and financial sectors experienced declines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.13% and closed at 38,726.33, the S&P 500 rose 0.06% to 4,997.91, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.24%, ending the session at 15,793.71.
Asian Markets Today
- On Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session higher by 0.18% at 36,897.42, led by gains in the Communication, Financial Services and Electrical/Machinery sectors.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.07% and closed at 7,644.80, led by gains in the IT, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors.
- India’s Nifty 50 closed higher by 0.30% at 21,782.50, and the Nifty 500 slid 0.13% to 19,961.50.
- China markets closed for Chinese New Year.
- The European STOXX 600 index was up 0.12%.
- Germany’s DAX gained 0.08%.
- France’s CAC declined 0.13%.
- U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.02%.
- Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.08% at $76.28/bbl, and Brent was down 0.11% at $81.54/bbl.
- In the last session, prices jumped 3% after Israeli forces bombed Rafah and Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire in the Palestinian area.
- Natural Gas declined 4.49% to $1.831.
- Gold was trading lower by 0.01% at $2,047.75, Silver rose 0.47% to $22.742, while Copper slipped 0.24% to $3.6932.
Dow futures were down 0.01%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures were up 0.21%.
Forex at 06:45 AM ET
The U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.07% to 104.23, USD/JPY gained 0.04% to 149.38, and AUD/USD sipped 0.31% to 1.5359.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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