July 7 (UPI) — The S&P 500 rose for the fourth consecutive day Thursday to tie its longest winning streak of the year.
The broad index rose 1.5% Thursday, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 346.87 points, or 1.12%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day up 2.28%.
Thursday’s winning streak came after markets had declined amid concerns of a recession.
“There’s not necessarily much conviction in this move,” Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones, said of the S&P’s gains. “But it is nice to see that, in the absence of new negative news, that markets are bouncing off of short-term oversold levels.”
Energy stocks helped to lead Thursday’s gains as crude oil prices climbed back above $102 per barrel after falling below $100 for the first time since May on Tuesday.
ExxonMobil stock rose 3.19% and Occidental Petroleum gained 3.99%.
Commodity stocks were also on the rise with Nucor climbing 4.32% and Freeport-McMoran gaining 6.72%.
Chipmakers helped boost the tech sector with Samsung rising 3.19% after reporting an 11% profit increase and a 21% rise in revenue, while shares of Nvidia gained 4.81% and AMD climbed 5.24%.
Elsewhere Bed Bath & Beyond stock shot up 21.7% after news that its interim CEO Sue Gove purchased $230,500 worth of stock in the home goods retailer, while GameStop stock rose 15.14% after the video game retailer’s board approved a four-for-one stock split.
The Labor Department is set to release its June jobs report on Friday, which will be closely watched by investors.
“With anecdotes of tech sector layoffs and hiring freezes, sub-50 readings in the Employment Components of the most recent ISM Manufacturing and Services surveys, and rising unemployment claims (albeit from extremely low levels), Friday’s jobs report will hold particular significance,” Credit Suisse chief U.S. equity strategist Jonathan Golub said in a note to clients.
