BJ’S Wholesale Club rose 8.3 per cent after likewise delivering a bigger profit than expected. That may help calm worries about how resilient US shoppers can remain, given high prices across the economy and still-high interest rates.
A day earlier, Target tumbled after reporting sluggish sales in the latest quarter and giving a dour forecast for the holiday shopping season. It followed Walmart, which gave a much more encouraging outlook.
Nearly 90 per cent of the stocks in the S&P 500 ended up rising, and the gains were even bigger among smaller companies. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks jumped a market-leading 1.7 per cent.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, helped keep indexes in check. It fell 4.7 per cent after US regulators asked a judge to break up the tech giant by forcing it to sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser.
In a 23-page document filed late Wednesday, the US Department of Justice called for sweeping punishments that would include restrictions preventing Android from favoring its own search engine. Regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android but left the door open to it if the company’s oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 31.60 points to 5,948.71. The Dow jumped 461.88 to 43,870.35, and the Nasdaq composite added 6.28 to 18,972.42.
In the crypto market, bitcoin eclipsed $US99,000 for the first time before pulling back toward $US98,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s more than doubled so far this year, and its climb has accelerated since Election Day. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to make the country “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin.
Bitcoin got a further boost after Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Thursday he would step down in January. Gensler has pushed for more protections for crypto investors.
Bitcoin and related investment have a notorious history of big price swings in both directions. MicroStrategy, a company that’s been raising cash expressly to buy bitcoin, saw an early Thursday gain of 14.6 per cent for its stock quickly disappear. It finished the day with a loss of 16.2 per cent.
In the oil market, a barrel of benchmark US crude rose 2 per cent to bring its gain for the week to 4.8 per cent. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8 per cent. Oil has been rising amid escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war.
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In stock markets abroad, shares of India’s Adani Enterprises plunged 22.6 per cent Thursday after the US charged founder Gautam Adani in a federal indictment with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The businessman and one of the world’s richest people is accused of concealing that his company’s huge solar energy project on the subcontinent was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme.
Stock indexes elsewhere in Asia and Europe were mixed.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.43 per cent from 4.41 per cent late Wednesday following some mixed reports on the US economy.
One said fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that the job market remains solid. Another report, though, said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly shrank. Sales of previously occupied homes, meanwhile, strengthened last month by more than expected.
