NEW YORK: Wall Street's main indexes hovered near record highs on Thursday as investors counted on more pandemic relief and speedy vaccine rollouts under the Biden administration to support the economy after data showed a weakening labour market recovery.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits was 900,000 in the latest week, the Labour Department's report said. The elevated reading was likely due to a relentless surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.
While the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow were about flat by 10:00 a.m. ET after gaining in the past two sessions, a jump in shares of technology heavyweights Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc lifted the Nasdaq by 0.2%.
Earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to rise by 24% in 2021 after falling 15% in 2020, as per Refinitiv data as of Jan. 15.
United Airlines Holdings Inc dropped 5.2% after posting a fourth straight quarterly loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic but said it aims to cut about $2 billion of annual costs through 2023.
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