WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted during Wednesday's session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.
The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still closed in positive territory. The Dow climbed 192.34 points or 0.4 percent to 44,650.64, the Nasdaq inched up 19.33 points or 0.1 percent to 20,630.66 and the S&P 500 rose 17.20 points or 0.3 percent to 6,280.46.
The higher close on Wall Street came despite ongoing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's trade policies, as he continues to threaten higher tariffs on various sectors and countries.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday evening, Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on copper is due to go into effect on August 1st.
Trump also posted several more letters to world leaders on Truth Social revealing plans to increase tariffs.
Trump posted letters sent to the leaders of the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya and Sri Lanka after posting letters sent to the leaders of 14 other leaders earlier in the week.
'Trump is throwing out numbers left, right and centre, and investors have begun to dismiss anything that isn't set in stone,' said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
'So many of Trump's decisions have either been rolled back, forgotten about, or kicked down the road,' he added. 'For investors, that means a shift in focus back to economic data and corporate news flow as key drivers for markets.'
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged modestly lower in the week ended July 5th. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 227,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 232,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 235,000 from the 233,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Sector News
Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 7.8 percent to its best closing level in four months.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) led the sector higher, spiking by 12.0 percent after reporting better than expected earnings for the June quarter and reinstating its full-year profit outlook.
Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Biotechnology, energy and financial stocks also saw notable strength, while software and networking stocks moved to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.5 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index decreased by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the day roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 4.346 percent after reaching a high of 4.376 percent.
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