Nasdaq, Dow Rebound as Labor Market Strengthens By Investing.com

By Christiana Sciaudone

Investing.com — Wall Street bounced back from a nasty bout of losses as the labor market appeared to strengthen.  

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, with companies scrambling to find workers as demand booms. Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 34,000, to 473,000 for the week ended May 8. Meanwhile, producer prices increased 0.6% in April, more than expected and the biggest annual gain since 2010, Bloomberg reported.        

Energy was the only sector seeing a decline as the Colonial Pipeline was switched back on after being hit by a ransomware attack. 

Bitcoin was another loser, slipping more than 10% to under $50,000 after Elon Musk said Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) would no longer accept purchases using the cryptocurrency, reversing a relatively new decree.  Tesla was also trading lower, about 3%.

In earnings, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) fell after reporting a net loss resulting from a $2.8 billion fine in an anti-monopoly investigation. Canada Goose Holdings Inc (NYSE:GOOS) reported its best fiscal fourth quarter, but shares fell on higher spending and executive comments that tourism is not expected to return to normal this year. Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) was also lower, despite beating estimates.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) all rallied to push the Nasdaq higher.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) was up nearly 4% after the company secured a much-awaited nod from the Federal Aviation Administration for an electrical fix that had kept some 100 planes of its 737 MAX series grounded.   

Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) rose almost 6% after a hedge fund boss and asset manager called the stock a buy and dismissed the impact of the treadmill  recall.

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) was also higher thanks to an Oppenheimer upgrade despite the easing of the pandemic that helped it rally to a record earlier this week. 

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) rose after raising $428 million in fresh equity.