The stock market continued to build on its rebound Thursday, with the Nasdaq composite adding more than 1% as investors watched new data on the job market.
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The Nasdaq jumped 1.3%, the S&P 500 rose 0.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%. Small caps led the stock market as the Russell 2000 rose 2%.
Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) also rose more than 1%. IBD 50 stock Funko (FNKO) is above the 25.18 buy point of a handle entry.
Volume fell on the Nasdaq and the NYSE compared with the same time on Wednesday.
Two Health Care Stocks Break Out
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 31218.78 | +181.10 | +0.58 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 3878.51 | +33.43 | +0.87 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 11504.69 | +142.84 | +1.26 |
| Russell 2000 | (IWM) | 174.77 | +3.22 | +1.88 |
| IBD 50 | (FFTY) | 27.19 | +0.34 | +1.27 |
| Last Update: 10:10 AM ET 7/7/2022 | ||||
The health care sector has been leading the stock market, and two of its high-rated stocks topped buy points this morning.
Cigna (CI) broke out of a base in heavy volume. The managed care provider topped its 273.67 buy point and is in a buy range to 287.35. Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) surged past a 48.68 buy point in big volume. It’s in a buy zone to 51.11.
Merck (MRK) is in advanced talks to acquire Seagen (SGEN) in a deal that could be worth roughly $40 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting sources close to the talks. Adding the cancer biotech would bolster Merck’s cancer-treatment business. Seagen shares rose 3%, while Merck was nearly flat.
GameStop, Virgin Galactic Among Stock Market Movers
GameStop (GME) jumped 9% on news that the video game retailer set a 4-for-1 stock split. The split is being executed after the close on July 18. GameStop initiated the split in March, but had not announced the size until additional shares could be authorized.
Virgin Galactic (SPCE) rose nearly 4%. The company is teaming up with Boeing (BA) subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences on designs for Galactic’s next-generation motherships. Virgin Galactic shares are trading near all-time lows.
Ahead of Friday’s June employment report, new data is coming out this morning on job growth and layoffs.
Payroll processing firm ADP’s estimate of June job growth was expected this morning. Economists’ consensus forecast was 200,000 new jobs. The ADP report found 128,000 gains in May.
Jobless Claims Rise By 4,000
The number of jobless claims rose to 235,000 from 231,000 the previous week, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Economists polled by Econoday had forecast 230,000.
Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, said the jobless claims data is moving in the Fed’s desired direction.
“It’s never a good thing to see layoffs, but the pressure on wages may have now peaked,” Cox wrote in a commentary. “A few more weeks of these types of numbers and maybe, just maybe, financial conditions are tight enough to allow the Fed to throttle back on the scale of rate increases.”
The Challenger layoffs report showed an increase from 20,712 to 32,517 job cuts in June.
Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed 4 basis points to 2.95%.
The price of U.S. crude oil rose went back above $100 a barrel. In early trading, crude rose 4.5% to $102.95. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) was the easy winner among S&P sector ETFs with a 3.8% increase.
All S&P sectors were up, except for consumer staples, which was off 0.1%.
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The post Nasdaq, Small Caps Lead Stock Market; Health Care Up As 2 Stocks Top Buy Points appeared first on Investor’s Business Daily.
