US markets end higher on Thursday

The US markets ended higher on Thursday on bargain hunting following the steep drop seen as Wednesday’s trading day progressed. The strong move to the upside extended the rollercoaster ride stocks have been on since news of the detection of omicron variant of the coronavirus. Traders have seemed extremely sensitive to omicron-related news amid concerns the variant could derail the economic recovery even as the Federal Reserve begins scaling back stimulus. On the sector front, Airline stocks showed a substantial rebound on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 6.5 percent after plummeting to its lowest closing level in a year in the previous session. Considerable strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 4.1 percent spike by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

Banking stocks also turned in a strong performance, driving the KBW Bank Index up by 3.4 percent. The index bounced off a two-month closing low. On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest rebound by initial jobless claims in the week ended November 27th. The report said initial jobless claims rose to 222,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 194,000. Street had expected jobless claims to climb to 240,000 from the 199,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 617.75 points or 1.82 percent to 34,639.79, Nasdaq rose 127.27 points or 0.83 percent to 15,381.32 and S&P 500 was up by 64.06 points or 1.42 percent to 4,577.1.

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