Aug. 18 (UPI) — U.S. markets eked out gains following a volatile day of trading on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day up 18.72 points, or 0.055%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.23% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.21% to rebound slightly after all three major indexes fell Wednesday with the Dow snapping a five-day winning streak.
Thursday’s meager gains placed the Dow into positive territory for the week, up 0.7% and 0.08% respectively, while the Nasdaq remained down 0.63%.
Investors on Thursday weighed new employment data from the Labor Department which showed that initial jobless claims fell to 250,000 for the week ending Aug. 13.
Retail earnings also continued to take center stage as Kohl’s stock fell 7.72% after missing earnings expectations and altering its full-year forecasts to say it expects sales to fall 5%-6% after previously saying it expected a modest increase in sales.
Conversely, shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club rose 7.22% after it posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its profits forecast.
“Our business model is designed to work well in the current consumer environment where value is king,” the company said.
Retail earnings have been mixed with Walmart raising market sentiment with strong earnings earlier in the week followed by poor results from Target on Wednesday.
Shares of Bed, Bath & Beyond stock continued to plummet Thursday, falling 19.63% after activist investor Ryan Cohen filed to sell his entire stake in the retailer Wednesday.
