The Nasdaq-Composite rose on Thursday after two consecutive days of losses as investors bought up battered technology stocks ahead of Friday’s key jobs report.
The technology-heavy benchmark rose 1%. S&P500 increased by 0.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered near the zero line.
Popular megacap and chip stocks led the move higher, with Nvidia last up 3%. Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Apple each rose about 1%. Amazon gained 3%, while Intel rose 2%.
New jobs data on Thursday sent mixed signals about the health of the U.S. economy as questions remain over whether the Federal Reserve is lagging in its interest rate cuts. Private payrolls data showed the weakest growth since 2021, heightening fears of a labor market slowdown. However, weekly jobless claims declined from the previous week.
The market has shown hypersensitivity to potential growth fears in recent weeks, including Tuesday’s sell-off on weak manufacturing data. This is leading to increased attention on jobs data, with all eyes on the August nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. A weak July report released last month stoked recession fears and a spate of volatility in August.
“While the incoming data is mixed, it is not collapsing and the global retrenchment cycle should help the economy to a soft landing and extend the cycle into 2025,” said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays. “We see this as a generally positive environment for equities, but much is arguably already priced in and there are a number of wildcards to overcome.”
Tesla rose 6% after the electric vehicle maker announced it plans to launch its fully autonomous driving software in Europe and China early next year. Border communication fell by 8% after Verizon said it would buy the company in a $20 billion deal that kept the value below Wednesday’s closing price. Verizon rose 0.3 percent.
The pre-market movements on Thursday will take place after the S&P500 And Nasdaq-Composite Both closed lower for the second consecutive day. Dow gained 38 points. All three averages are declining for the week ahead of the August nonfarm payrolls report due out on Friday.
