Retail sales rose 9.8 percent in March compared to the previous month, and requests for unemployment benefits were much less than analysts expected.
Stocks on Wall Street soared Thursday to new records following the extraordinary results of the big banks and good data on labor and retail sales in the United States.
According to provisional figures, at the close of the session on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones rose 0.90% or 305.10 points, to 34,035.99 units, exceeding 34,000 points for the first time in history, led by companies such as United Health (3.78%), Visa (1.92%) and Apple (1.87%).
The S&P 500 also reached historical figures, rising 1.11% or 45.76 points, to 4,170.42 units, while the Nasdaq composite index, which brings together the most important technology in the market, increased 1.31% or 180.92 points, up to 14,038.76 units.
The New York stock market received with open arms the remarkable quarterly results of United Health, which were added to those that were known this Wednesday from the banking sector, such as Goldman Sachs, which announced that it obtained a net profit of 6,836 million in the first quarter in 2021, 464% more than in the same section last year.
JPMorgan Chase also reported that it made a profit of $ 14.3 billion in the first quarter of 2021, almost five times more than in the same tranche last year.
Although it was the Down Jones and the S&P that reached historical figures, the Nasdaq was the one that registered the highest daily gains among the three main indicators, thanks to the good performance of the actions of technological giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix or Alphabet (Google’s parent company), which rose more than 1%.
By sectors, most of them ended in positive territory, led by real estate (1.95%), technology (1.79%), and health (1.74%), while only two finished in negative territory: energy (-0.88%), and financial (-0.11%).
Among the 30 listed on the Dow Jones, United Health (3.83%), Amgen (2.21%), Salesforce (2.18%), and Visa (1.94%) rose especially, while Walgreens fell (-1, 38%), Walt Disney (-0.82%) and Chevron (-0.82%).
On Wall Street, expectations are very high for economic recovery after the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The new reports have only reinforced those expectations, including those showing Americans’ ability to spend again, declining workers losing their jobs, and increasing corporate profits.
Retail sales rose 9.8 percent in March from a month earlier, as Americans spent more on cars due to restaurant and sporting goods, gardening, and the carb virus vaccine. Much of the increase was due to payments of $ 1,400 from the latest US government bailout hitting household bank accounts.
The Labor Department said 576,000 new seasonally adjusted jobless claims were filed last week, far less than analysts expected and the fewest since the week ending March 14, 2020, just before the coronavirus. Lead to business disruptions and millions of layoffs.
“Although 34,000 is just a number, it is a monumental achievement when you think about where we were right now last year,” said LPL Financial Head of Market Strategy Ryan Detrick. He added The pace and resilience of this economic recovery have never been seen, nor does it help to justify market records.
The data strengthened confidence in the economic recovery in the United States. Analysts also point to lower US Treasury yields as a contributing factor to initial earnings.
More large US companies posted healthier earnings for the first three months of 2021 than analysts had anticipated adding to optimism. Expectations are already high for this earnings release season, which began unofficially on Wednesday and could lead to the strongest growth in more than a decade.
The stimulus programs, vaccination, and progressive economic reopening measures are having an immediate positive impact on the economy, despite the fact that infections continue to experience a rebound in some states of the country.
In an interview with CNBC, the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, celebrated the good results of the investment fund for the first quarter but warned: “If this growth is not sustained in the next ten years, we will have problems with the deficit.”.
Industrial production in the United States had a slight increase in March, driven by mining, after the polar cold wave in February, but the general level is still lower than before the pandemic. According to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve, the rise was 1.4% in March over February, according to data released Thursday by Federal Reserve. It is a lower figure than expected by analysts who expected + 2.9%.
For their part, oil prices rose again this Thursday, to their highest level in a month, after solid indicators in the United States. A barrel of Brent from the North Sea for June delivery closed at $ 66.94, up 0.54% in London. Meanwhile, in New York, a barrel of WTI for the month of May closed at 63.46 dollars, an increase of 0.49%.
“We had explosive consumer data that drove oil prices higher and suggests that we are going to have strong demand,” summarized Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.