Stock futures rose in overnight trading Thursday, as optimism over economic recovery grows amid strong labor market data.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120 points, or 0.35%. S&P 500 futures ticked 0.27% higher. Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.18%.
Salesforce shares gained roughly 5% in extended trading Thursday after the software company’s first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations on its top and bottom lines. HP shares fell 5% despite the company’s better-than-expected second-quarter results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 141.59 points in regular trading, while the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher. The Nasdaq Composite closed flat.
Shares of Boeing gained nearly 4% amid optimism about the recovery economy. First-time jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low of 406,000, according to Labor Department data.
“Two macro factors may be contributing to the increased confidence in the recovery today: signs of higher inflation and signs of better job placement,” Goldman Sachs managing director Chris Hussey said in a note.
Meme stocks fueled by traders in Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum surged on Thursday, with AMC shooting up as much as 47%. Shares of the movie-theater chain closed 35.6% higher while another meme stock, GameStop, gained 4.8%.
The major indexes are on track to close higher this week. The S&P 500 is up 1.08% week to date. The blue-chip Dow is 0.75% higher over the same time period, while the Nasdaq has gained nearly 2%.
The moves higher this week come as investor monitor the back-and-forth in Washington over a comprehensive infrastructure package that could further boost the economic recovery. Senate Republicans unveiled a $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer to President Joe Biden on Thursday. However, that’s well below Biden’s most-recent offer of $1.7 trillion.