Feb. 4 (UPI) — The S&P 500 climbed to a new record Thursday as U.S. markets extended a streak of increases on the week as more corporate earnings reports filed in.
Gains in the energy and financials fields helped boost the S&P 500 to an increase of 1.09%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed for the fourth-consecutive day, rising 332.26 points, or 1.08%. The Nasdaq Composite rebounded from slight losses Wednesday to rise 1.23%.
So far this week, the Dow has risen 3%, the S&P 500 has climbed 3.6% and the Nasdaq Composite has gained 4.5%.
Paypal stock gained 7.36% and eBay increased 5.31% after both companies reported strong quarterly results, while Qualcomm fell 8.83% after reporting earnings below estimates.
Markets continued to recover from one of their worst weeks in months after members of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit targeted heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment.
GameStop stock has fallen more than 80% including a drop of 41.73% after backlash from Wall Street to the online group’s trading, including the trading app Robinhood halting trades on those stocks.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was set to meet with government fiscal experts Thursday to examine the impact of the so-called “meme stock” frenzy.
Markets also responded to better than expected unemployment data as the Labor Department reported that 779,000 new claims were filed for the week ending Jan. 30, a decrease of about 33,000 from the previous week.
Additionally, investors were optimistic about the potential for the passage of President Joe Biden‘s $1.9 trillion stimulus package after both the House and Senate took steps to advance the measure on Wednesday.
