Stocks rose slightly on Thursday as broad gains for the major tech names served as a counterweight to disappointing unemployment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials worked its way into positive country 46.85 points to end Thursday's session at 27,739.73.
The S&P 500 obtained 10.66 points at 3,385.51
The NASDAQ jumped 118.49 points, or 1.1%, to 11,264.95.
Facebook rose 1.6% and Amazon climbed 0.9%. Netflix advanced 2% and Apple gained 1.3%. Microsoft added 1.5%, and Alphabet was up 1.1%. Intel shares gained 1.5% after the company announced an accelerated buyback plan, calling its stock cheap.
Tech has been the best-performing sector in the market this year, leading the S&P 500 back from its late-March low. Facebook is up nearly 30% year to date and Alphabet has rallied around 16% over that time period. Amazon, meanwhile, has surged over 77% in 2020 while Apple and Netflix are each up more than 50%.
Weekly jobless claims stateside totaled 1.106 million last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported. Economists estimate that 923,000 first-time applicants filed for unemployment benefits during the week ended Aug. 15. In the week prior, the tally had dropped below one million for the first time since mid-March.
The jump in unemployment claims came as lawmakers struggled to move forward on a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Recently, an additional unemployment benefit for those impacted by the pandemic expired.
Thursday's data release comes a day after the Federal Reserve released its July meeting minutes which said, “the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term.”
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury rose sharply, weighing yields to 0.65% from Wednesday's 0.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices faded 31 cents at $42.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $8.70 to $1,961.60 U.S. an ounce.