[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Major indices on the New York Stock Exchange overcame early losses and closed higher across the board. Cryptocurrencies took a breather.
On the 6th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 318.19 points (0.93%) to close at 34,548.53, the S&P 500 increased by 34.03 points (0.82%) to 4,201.62, and the Nasdaq rose 50.41 points (0.37%) to finish at 13,632.84.
The Dow recorded an all-time high for the second consecutive day, and the Nasdaq posted gains for the first time in five trading days.
The weekly initial jobless claims, released before the market opened, fell below 500,000 for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak, fueling expectations for economic recovery.
The April employment report compiled by the Department of Labor will be released the following day, on the 7th. Experts predict over 1 million new jobs. The unemployment rate, which dropped to 6.0% last month, is expected to fall into the 5% range.
Despite the improving employment data, U.S. Treasury yields declined again on the day. The yield on U.S. Treasury bonds fell by 0.014 percentage points from the previous day to 1.571%. A major foreign news outlet also reported that Treasury yields dropped ahead of the employment report scheduled for the next day. The Treasury yield curve showed a mild trend for the fifth consecutive day.
This trend is analyzed as reflecting the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to raise interest rates despite Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s remarks that the Fed should increase rates as the economy recovers.
Technology stocks were strong due to the decline in Treasury yields. Apple rose 1.6%, Amazon gained 1.1%, while Tesla fell 1.1%.
COVID-19 vaccine-related stocks plunged early on the day following the U.S. government's support for a temporary waiver of patent rights but narrowed their losses by the close. Moderna dropped as much as 8% early on but closed down 1.4%. BioNTech also started with a decline of over 10% but ended trading down 1%. Novavax closed up 0.4%.
Cryptocurrencies were weak. Bitcoin fell 1.4%, trading in the $56,000 range, while Ethereum rose 0.3% to the $3,400 level.
Dogecoin dropped 2.5%, trading around 58 cents.
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., fell to $250.51 intraday, near its reference price of $250 on its Nasdaq market debut day. Coinbase’s intraday losses widened to 8%, but it closed down 5.9% at $256.76. Coinbase had risen to $429 on its first day of listing last month but has been steadily declining since then.
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