Nasdaq ends at a record

Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as investors welcomed a report showing the U.S. job market continues to climb out of the crater created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P 500 added 0.5 percent, its fourth-straight gain. The index ended the holiday-shortened week with a gain of 4 percent.

The Nasdaq composite climbed to another all-time high, aided by more gains in technology companies.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained by 53 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 10,207.63, booking its second straight record close but well off its intraday high at 10,310.36.

Energy companies notched some of the biggest gains as oil prices strengthened on hopes that a recovering economy will mean more demand.

The rally wasn’t impervious to worries about the virus outbreak. News that Florida had another sharp increase in confirmed cases helped cut the S&P 500′s early gains by more than half. The bond market also signaled caution, as yields moved broadly lower.

A recent surge in new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Florida, Texas and several other states has led some governors to halt the reopening of their economies or to order some businesses, such as restaurants and bars, to reclose. That has dimmed some of the optimism for a relatively quick economic turnaround, especially for travel-related sectors like cruise lines.

Even so, investors continue to bet that the recovery will proceed, despite the worrying rise in new cases.

“Right now, I don’t see a national outbreak coming, I don’t see a national shutdown,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. “The risks are still there, but the market has kind of already taken that into account.”

The S&P 500 won 14.15 points at 3,130.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained by 92.39 points, or 0.4 percent at 25,827.36. 

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks also climbed, adding 4.55 points, or 0.3 percent at 1,431.86. Markets in Europe and Asia also closed broadly higher.-AP/The Standard