U.S. Stocks Holding Gains, Look Set To End On Firm Note

U.S. stocks are up in positive territory Thursday afternoon, with those from the technology sector outperforming as investors digest a slew of earnings announcements and economic data.

The mood is somewhat cautious with the market looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday.

Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank’s hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it.

The major averages are all up notably higher. The Dow is gaining 122.10 or 0.37 percent at 33,091.33. The S&P 500 is up 33.17 points or 0.8 percent at 4,173.94, while the Nasdaq is higher by 137.52 points or 1.11 percent at 12,431.53.

Boeing shares are rising 2.7 percent. Intel is gaining 2.5 percent, while Caterpillar and JP Morgan both are up nearly 2 percent.

American Express, Visa, Apple, Goldman Sachs, Nike, Cisco Systems, Walmart and Honeywell International are moderately higher.

Salesforce.com shares are down nearly 5 percent after the company lowered its revenue guidance.

Tesla is down 1.25 percent after its 3-1 stock split came into effect.

Shares of Snowflake Inc. are soaring 23 percent buoyed by stronger-than-expected quarter earnings.

Dollar Tree Inc. shares are down nearly 10% after the company narrowed its full-year sales outlook to the range of $27.85 billion-$28.10 billion from $27.76 billion-$28.14 billion provided earlier. The company has slashed its earnings per share outlook for the year to $7.10-$7.40 from the previous guidance of $7.80-$8.20.

Data from the Labor Department showed the U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.6 percent in the second quarter, following a 1.6 percent drop a quarter earlier.

Personal consumption expenditure increased 1.5 percent in the second quarter, after rising 1.8 percent in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, personal consumption expenditure rose 1.9 percent in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims dropped to 243,000 in the week ended August 20th, from a revised 245,000 claims a week earlier.

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