A majority of stocks continue to post gains in early afternoon trading on Thursday, with some bright spots in the day's pending home sales and jobless claims data generating buying interest. Nonetheless, buying remains relatively limited as traders brace for tomorrow's monthly employment report.
The Dow has bounced back and forth across the unchanged line but is currently up 5.53 points or 0.1 percent at 10,275.00, while the Nasdaq is up 13.68 points or 0.6 percent at 2,190.52 and the S&P 500 is up 4.98 points or 0.5 percent at 1,085.27.
On the economic front this morning, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose by 5.2 percent in July, while economists had been expecting the index to come in unchanged following a 2.8 percent decrease in June and a substantial 29.9 percent drop in May.
In news out of the labor market, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims edged down to 472,000 in the week ended August 28th from the previous week's revised figure of 478,000. Economists had expected claims to come in at 475,000.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that orders for manufactured goods inched up by 0.1 percent in July, short of the 0.3 percent increase forecast by analysts.
August retail sales data has also been in the spotlight today, with Target (TGT) reporting a 1.8 percent increase same-store sales, Saks' (SKS) sales rising by 1 percent, Kohl's (KSS) seeing 4.5 percent growth and sales by wholesaler Costco (COST) jumping by 7 percent.
In other corporate news, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) has beat out rival Dell Inc. (DELL) in a bidding war for electronic storage firm 3Par (PAR), offering a winning bid of $33 per share, or a total of approximately $2 billion.
Burger King (BKC) has surged higher after the firm entered an agreement to be purchased by private capital firm 3G for $24 per share or nearly $4 billion, including debt.
Sector News
Housing stocks remain among the day's best performers, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.9 percent. The upward move has lifted the index to a three-week intraday high after the day's upbeat pending home sales news.
Semiconductor and electronic storage stocks are also notably higher, boosting the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index are both up by 1.8 percent, seeing further recovery from recent one-year closing lows.
Retail stocks have also shown a notable move to the upside, as traders react positively to the release of the August sales results from some major retailers.
Gold, networking, internet and commercial real estate stocks are also advancing, while weakness among some utility stocks is driving the Philadelphia Utility Sector Index down by 0.8 percent, off of a seven-month closing high.
Stocks In The News
Discount retailer Fred's (FRED) is trading higher after the company said its same store sales rose 3.6 percent in August, reversing the 1.4 percent decline recorded in the same period last year. The stock has gained 5.3 percent, climbing to a two-month intraday high.
Meanwhile, Collective Brands (PSS) is under pressure as its second quarter earnings came in at $0.32 per share on revenues of $841.3 million, well short of expectations for earnings of $0.46 per share on revenues of $863.27 billion. The stock is down by 6.2 percent after slipping to a fourteen-month intraday low in earlier trading.
Cigna (CI) is also trading lower after the company announced the resignation of Annmarie Hagan from the post of CFO and named VP and treasurer Thomas McCarthy as a replacement on an interim basis. Shares are currently down by 1.7 percent.
Other Markets
Overseas, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw strong gains on Thursday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index gained 1.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index moved up by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed. The French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, while the German DAX Index closed nearly flat.
In the bond markets, treasuries remain moderately lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is trading at 2.620 percent, posting a gain of 3.8 basis points.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.