Dow Jones and S&P 500 add 0.3%, NASDAQ 100 rises 0.5% as jobless claims inch higher

The US stock markets opened in the green with marginal gains after the jobless claims increased more than expected. While the Dow Jones and S&P 500 added 0.3%, the NASDAQ 100 surged 0.5% or 170 points on Thursday.

The initial jobless claims data for the first week of August stood at 209,000, up by 9000 and slightly higher than the expectation of 202,000. Meanwhile, the continuing claims, which are seen as a gauge of outstanding unemployment in the US, declined by 17.7 lakh. This indicates resilience in the US economy, holding FOMC members from turning dovish in the near term.

Meanwhile, shares of Cisco Systems, Inc, plunged over 7% on Thursday, hitting as the top loser in the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 index after the company announced its quarterly earnings on Wednesday. The company’s revenue for the quarter jumped 18% YoY to $17.25 billion as compared to $14.6 billion in the same period last year. The net income jumped 51% YoY to $3.86 billion.Investors remain cautious after the company guided for $72.2 billion-$73.4 billion in revenue for fiscal 2027.

Meanwhile, shares of Micron, NVIDIA, AMD, Intel Corporation and SanDisk Corporation jumped as much as 3% on Thursday, taking cues from strong gains in the Japanese and Korean chip makers. Shares of Korean chip maker SK Hynix surged nearly 4% on the NASDAQ, following the gains made in Korean indices.

South Korea’s KOSPI surged as major chipmakers rallied on Thursday morning, while the South Korean government also plans to ease regulations for semiconductor and AI megaprojects that are expected to generate 4.2 trillion South Korean won in investment.

Meanwhile, the core Producer Price Index (PPI) remained unchanged in July, after a revised 0.1% fall in June and compared with market expectations of a 0.2% gain. This, coupled with the cooling of CPI, displays encouraging signs for investors, abating hopes of rate hikes in the near future.