Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on the back of JP Morgan second quarter (Q2) earnings and signs of stabilization in the U.S. labor market, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 on track to hit fresh record closing highs.
At 15:30GMT, or 11:30AM ET, the Dow 30 jumped 146 points, or 0.80%, the S&P 500 gained 13 points, or 0.63%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 29 points, or 0.58%.
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) led the Dow higher on Thursday after kicking off the bank Q2 earnings season with better than expected numbers.
The first report from the largest U.S. bank by assets set the bar high for other financial institutions though investors had already begun pricing in expectations with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) as the second biggest advancer on the blue-chip index and the KBW bank index rising nearly 2% with not a single one of its components in the red.
In other earnings news, Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) also saw shares climb more than 3% after the restaurant group reported second quarter China sales that matched Wall Street expectations after Wednesday's closing bell. The company’s chief executive gave a positive profit outlook.
On the downside, BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) eased slightly after the world's largest asset manager, reported a 3.7% fall in quarterly profit, reflecting a turbulent quarter for financial markets.
Also of note, Line Corp (NYSE:LN) wowed investors with its initial public offering (IPO) with shares surging around 30% on its first day of trade in Wall Street. The maker of the mobile messaging app of the same name will list shares in Tokyo (T:3938) on Friday, making it the largest tech IPO this year.
On the macro front, weekly jobless claims remained unchanged at 254,000, beating expectations for an increase to 265,000, in a sign of stabilization in the labor market.
Also released on Thursday, producer price inflation, considered a leading indicator for consumer inflation, logged its first advance since December 2014.
Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart suggested that Brexit uncertainty would require the Federal Reserve (Fed) to remain “cautious and patient” on future rate hikes.
Still on tap, Kansas City Fed president Esther George is scheduled to deliver comments at 17:15GMT, or 13:15ET while Dallas Fed president Rob Kaplan is due to speak after the closing bell at 23:00GMT, or 19:00ET.
In currency markets, the US Dollar Index was weaker against a trade weighted basket of six other currencies, but moved to a three-week high against the USD/JPY on a Bloomberg report that former Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke had raised the prospect of “perpetual bonds” for the Bank of Japan. That was despite a Reuters report citing sources that there were no plans for “helicopter money”, referring to how a central bank could finance government budgets directly as a way to combat deflation.
The dollar slumped to its lowest level since June 30 against the pound on Thursday after the BoE surprised markets by keeping interest rates steady at 0.5%, but signaled that it will likely ease at its August meeting.
Meanwhile, in oil markets, crude rebounded in North American trade on Thursday, after plunging more than 4% in the prior session when bearish U.S. inventory data heightened concerns about a global glut.
U.S. crude futures jumped 2.28% to $45.77 by 15:36GMT, or 11:36AM ET, while Brent oil gained 2.49% to $47.41.