Investing.com – Wall Street rose on Thursday as bond market concerns eased and earnings season began.
The S&P 500 rose seven points or 0.27% to 2,755.61 as of 10:20 AM ET (15:20 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 84 points or 0.33% to 25,454.06 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up over 19 points or 0.27% to 7,172.69.
Markets closed in the negative on Wednesday amid concern that China could stop purchasing U.S. bonds. China is the largest holder of Treasury bills. The S&P 500 closed at 2,748.23, the Nasdaq composite finished at 7,153.57 while the Dow Jones industrial average was down to 25,369.13.
Technology and capital goods firms were among the biggest gainers after the morning bell. Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) rose 1.22% after it raised its profit forecast, while luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) increased 1.33% and General Electric (NYSE:GE) surged 2.01%. Meanwhile power system solution provider Digital Power Corporation (NYSE:DPW) gained 14.07% while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rose 2.10%.
Elsewhere Eastman Kodak Co (NYSE:KODK) was down 11.96% after rising 57.35% on Wednesday amid news that the firm was creating its own cryptocurrency. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) inched down 0.18% while vaccine company Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) slumped 5.66%.
In other news, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose by 11,000 to 261,000 last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. In a separate report, U.S. producer prices fell 0.1% in December, adding to worry over sluggish inflation.
In Europe stocks were mixed. In Germany the DAX fell 92 points or 0.70% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 16 points or 0.31% and in London the FTSE 100 rose two points or 0.04%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 20 points or 0.20% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 fell 12 points or 0.36%.
In commodities, gold futures increased 0.26% to $1,322.70 a troy ounce while crude oil futures reached a three year high of $64.39 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.59% to 91.57.