The US markets ended higher on Thursday after the Labor Department released a report showing a modest pullback in initial jobless claims in the week ended July 24th. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 400,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level of 424,000. Street had expected jobless claims to drop to 380,000 from the 419,000 originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a significant increase in US gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2021, although the pace of growth fell short of street estimates. The Commerce Department said real GDP surged up by 6.5 percent in the second quarter following a 6.3 percent jump in the first quarter. Street had expected GDP to spike by 8.5 percent. The GDP growth in the second quarter reflected increases in consumer spending, non-residential fixed investment, exports, and state and local government spending. The report showed consumer spending skyrocketed by 11.8 percent in the second quarter after soaring by 11.4 percent in the first quarter.
However, decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, and federal government spending limited the upside along with an increase in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP. Pending home sales in the US unexpectedly showed a notable decrease in the month of June, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 1.9 percent to 112.8 in June after soaring by 8.3 percent to a revised 115.0 in May. The pullback surprised participants, who had expected pending home sales to edge up by 0.3 percent compared to the 8.0 percent spike originally reported for the previous month.
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.6 points or 0.44 percent to 35,084.53, Nasdaq rose 15.68 points or 0.11 percent to 14,778.26 and S&P 500 was up by 18.51 points or 0.42 percent to 4,419.15.