Stocks had a strong day on Thursday—strong enough to pull the benchmark S&P 500 back within 1% of its record following a rough April, per the AP.
- The S&P rose 26 points, or 0.5%, to 5,214.
- The Dow rose 331 points, or 0.8%, to 39,387—its seventh straight winning day, notes CNBC.
- The Nasdaq rose 43 points, or 0.2%, to 16,346.
A report showing a pickup in layoffs helped to prop up the market: The number of workers applying for unemployment benefits rose by more last week than economists expected, though it remains relatively low compared with history. That could be a sign the economy can pull off a hoped-for balancing act of staying solid enough to avoid a bad recession, but not so strong that it puts upward pressure on inflation. Treasury yields erased earlier gains immediately after the report's release, indicating expectations for the Federal Reserve to deliver long-sought cuts to interest rates later this year.
Equinix, which runs data centers around the world, jumped 11% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Yeti Holdings rose 13% after reporting better profit for the latest quarter than expected thanks to stronger sales for its drinkware and coolers and equipment. Cheesecake Factory gained 5% after topping expectations for profit. The results were encouraging following some recent warnings by big food and drink companies. On the losing side, Airbnb sank 6% despite also topping expectations for profit and revenue—it gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell short of expectations. Beyond Meat, the maker of plant-based meat substitutes, fell 13.9% after it posted a much worse loss than analysts expected as demand continued to crater. (More stock market stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
