U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, extending their recent record-setting run as better-than-expected economic data boosted sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 180.28 points to greet noon at 30,064.07, boosted by a 7% jump in Boeing shares.
The S&P 500 picked up 9.19 points on top of Wednesday’s closing high, to 3,678.20.
The NASDAQ regained 58.92 points to 12,408.28, a fresh all-time high.
First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 712,000 last week, lower than an estimate of 780,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Jobless claims also fell for the first time in three weeks as the labour market showed resilience even in the face of a worsening pandemic.
The U.S. Labor Department is set to release its closely watched jobs report for November on Friday. The U.S. economy is expected to add 440,000 jobs while the unemployment rate is estimated to decrease to 6.7%, according to Dow Jones.
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement calling on Republicans to work with them on another round of coronavirus relief funding, using a bipartisan proposal from Senate moderates as a starting point.
On Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country to grant emergency approval to the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
Regulators in the U.S. are expected to make determinations on that vaccine and a similar vaccine from Moderna later this month, possibly allowing distribution to begin before the start of 2021.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 0.92% from Wednesday’s 0.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices headed higher 33 cents to $45.61 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved four dollars to $1,834.20