US markets rallied overnight, with the Nasdaq once again gaining the ascendancy finishing 1.8% higher.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones also gained 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively, as the likes of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) benefitted from signs of a stronger economy.
The US jobless rate reached another pandemic low, with unemployment claims falling by 34,000 to 44,000 in the week prior.
Bitcoin’s slide has began to slow, moving over US$40,000 once again, down over 20% in just over a week. However, it was proposed this week that all crypto transactions exceeding US$10,000 would need to be reported to the IRS, raising concerns about the lack of privacy.
Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) rallied 3.1% after announcing its intention to build electric vehicle batteries in the US via a joint venture with Korean specialist SK Innovation Co.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks traded on Thursday.
- Sea Ltd (NYSE: SE) up 8.6%
- Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) up 6.7%
- Twilio (NASDAQ: TWLO) up 6.0%
- Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) up 4.6%
- Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) up 4.6%
- Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) up 4.1%
- MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) up 4.0%
- Gap (NYSE: GPS) down 4.0%
- Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) down 7.0%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is tipped to follow US markets higher at the open on Friday. For all the latest, check our Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.