US stocks rise on labor-market optimism as jobless claims hit another pandemic low



The New York Stock Exchange has traders on it.

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The US stock market moved higher Thursday, finding support from a slip in weekly jobless claims that signaled further improvement in the labor market that's still mired in a shortage of workers.
The S&P 500 was close to a record high after its decline in the previous session. Macy's and Kohl's soared after blowing past quarterly earnings expectations and issuing bullish outlooks. Target and Walmart beat estimates this week.
The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment fell to 268,000 last week, suggesting that the world's largest economy is still creating jobs despite high inflation. The seventh straight decline was ahead of the economists' survey. The continuing claims, which count Americans applying for unemployment insurance, fell to 2.08 million, the lowest level since March 2020.
The US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The Philly Fed index jumped to 39.0 in November from 23.8 in October, above the consensus estimate of 24.0.
The price of gold slipped to $1,866 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year bond increased.
West Texas Intermediate crude was down by a small amount. The price of oil picked up 0.7% to $80.77.

The price of the digital currency fell by 1.1% to $59,709.23.

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