Stocks Gain Ground As Traders Stay Optimistic

Initial Jobless Claims Increase To 411,000

U.S. has just released Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims reports.

Initial Jobless Claims report indicated that 411,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a week. Analysts expected that Initial Jobless Claims would total 380,000. Continuing Jobless Claims declined from 3.53 million (revised from 3.52 million) to 3.39 million compared to analyst consensus of 3.47 million.

It remains to be seen whether the market will pay attention to the increase of Initial Jobless Claims or interpret it as a part of normal job market volatility.

S&P 500 futures are moving higher in premarket trading, and it looks that S&P 500 may have a chance to test all-time high levels during today’s trading session.

Durable Goods Orders Grew By 2.3% In May

U.S. has also released Durable Goods Orders report for May. Durable Goods Orders grew by 2.3% compared to analyst consensus which called for growth of 2.8%. While Durable Goods Orders report fell short of analyst expectations, it highlighted robust growth after a decline of 0.8% in April.

The final reading of the first-quarter GDP Growth Rate report indicated that GDP grew by 6.4%, in line with the analyst consensus. It should be noted that final readings of GDP reports rarely contain any surprises.

U.S. Dollar Stays Flat After Fed’s Bostic Says That He Expects An Interest Rate Hike In 2022

U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the U.S. dollar against a broad basket of currencies, failed to develop upside momentum after Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic stated that inflation could stay higher for longer than previously expected.

Bostic still believes that inflation will be temporary, but he has changed his forecast for rate hikes and now expects a rate hike in 2022.

Interestingly, his comments failed to put any pressure on gold and silver which continue their attempts to gain upside momentum after the recent sell-off.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.