Stock Market Today: S&P 500 closes higher as tech leads charge; jobs report eyed

Investing.com– The S&P 500 closed higher Thursday, led by tech as investors continued to digest a slew of corporate earnings ahead of the crucial monthly jobs report due Friday.  

At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 323 points, or 0.9%, S&P 500 gained 1%, and NASDAQ Composite climbed 1.5%. 

Labor market still tight ahead of nonfarm payrolls 

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits held steady at lower levels last week, data showed earlier Thursday, as the labor market remains fairly tight.

The economic focus now turns towards Friday’s closely watched April jobs report, which is expected tp show that nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 243,000 jobs in April after advancing by 303,000 in March.

The fresh labor market data come a day after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of its latest policy meeting on Wednesday, and Powell signaled that the next rate move was still likely to be an interest rate cut. 

“Jay Powell didn’t sound a loud alarm on inflation. That helped keep up hope for a rate cut from the Fed this year,” Macquarie said in a Thursday note.

Qualcomm leads chips higher

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose neearly 10% after reporting stronger-than-expected guidance as the chipmaker benefited from a recovery in smartphone demand. 

Qualcomm’s chips are used in the high- and premium-tiers smartphone segments, both of which have been “growing at a faster clip than in FY23,” adding that the chipmaker will continue to benefit as “consumers upgrade to AI-enabled smartphones.”

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eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), meanwhile, fell 3% after the e-commerce giant delivered revenue guidance for the current quarter that fell just shy of expectations amid a weakening consumer.

Moderna , Peloton, Carvana shine on earnings stage, Doordash stumbles

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock rose over 12% after the drugmaker posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter as its cost-cutting efforts took hold and sales of its Covid vaccine topped estimates.

Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) stock fell 2% after giving up gains as the connected-fitness company announced the departure of chief executive Barry McCarthy.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) surged nearly 34% after the used car dealer clocked a surprise first-quarter profit and offered a positive forecast.

DoorDash (NASDAQ:DASH) stock slumped 10% after the food delivery service flagged a disappointing outlook for annual profit. 

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)