U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc surged to record highs, although trading was choppy as investors worried about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on first-quarter earnings.
Amazon.com rose 4.4% and Netflix climbed 2.9% as sweeping stay-at-home orders drove demand for online streaming services and home delivery of goods.
The shutdown in New York was extended until May 15, even as coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths fell to their lowest in more than a week, adding to evidence that the hardest-hit state was controlling the virus' spread.
Still, the impact of the health crisis on the economy and companies kept investors on edge. First-quarter earnings kicked off this week, with U.S. banks preparing for a wave of future loan defaults following a halt in business activity.
Analysts estimate earnings for S&P 500 companies slumped 12.8% in the quarter, which would be the biggest year-over-year quarterly decline since the financial crisis.
"We're not going to see a V-shaped recovery, and I think investors will eventually realize that, so it's premature to call a bottom in stocks at this stage," said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc., an investment advisory firm based in Toledo, Ohio.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 33.33 points, or 0.14%, to 23,537.68, the S&P 500 gained 16.19 points, or 0.58%, to 2,799.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 139.19 points, or 1.66%, to 8,532.36.
Data showed jobless claims fell slightly to 5.2 million last week from an upwardly revised 6.62 million the previous week. But the total figure for the past month still topped a stunning 20 million.
Economists polled by Reuters had estimated 5.1 million jobless claims for the week ended April 11.
Morgan Stanley wrapped up earnings for the big U.S. lenders, reporting a plunge in quarterly profit as its advisory and wealth management businesses took a hit from the economic fallout of the pandemic. Its shares ended down slightly.
Shares of Boeing Co fell 8%, limiting gains in the Dow, as its European rival Airbus said it was examining requests to defer deliveries after a collapse in travel demand.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.62 billion shares, compared to the 13.94 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.59-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.23-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 44 new highs and 62 new lows.
GLOBAL MARKETS
World stock markets edged higher as investors anticipated big earnings from the coronavirus-induced slowdowns keeping people at home, while bond yields fell as data reflected record U.S. joblessness.
Equities markets seesawed for most of the session as dire U.S. jobless claims data underscored a deep recession and tamped down investor hopes the economy would soon be back on its feet.
A record 22 million Americans sought unemployment benefits over the past month, with millions more filing claims last week in a stark sign of how deep the economic slump caused by the pandemic will be.
Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman told shareholders he "can promise" the bank will miss its medium-term financial targets again this quarter, as the lockdowns will continue to upend the global and U.S. economies.
Morgan Stanley posted a 32% fall in quarterly profit and its shares slid 0.3%.
Amazon and Netflix rose as sweeping stay-at-home orders drove demand for online streaming services and home delivery of goods.
With an "all-clear" nowhere in sight, seven U.S. Northeastern states extended a shutdown to contain the pandemic until May 15, even as President Donald Trump prepared to detail his plan to open businesses in the least-affected states as early as May 1.
The dollar hit a one-week high and U.S. Treasury yields fell for a third session as investors fled to safe-haven assets.
Investors are grappling with whether to be optimistic for when economies pull out of recession or to wait for a coronavirus vaccine and clear signs growth has fully recovered, said Anthony Saglimbene, global market strategist at Ameriprise.
"The stock market is forward-looking and has discounted a lot of some of the really bad economic and earnings numbers that we're going to get for Q1 and Q2," Saglimbene said.
"It's really about 'When we do reopen, what's that curve look like? Is it a 'V,' is it a 'U' or is it a 'W'?' Our view is that it's going to be slow recovery," he said.
It may take a few years for U.S. economic activity to rebound fully from the severe downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.14% and its emerging market stock index lost 0.37%.
European shares rebounded, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index up 0.58%.
Global benchmark Brent crude rose but West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, settled flat, with official data showing U.S. inventories surging to the most on record. Investors had hoped that such a build-up may mean producers have little option but to cut output as the coronavirus outbreak ravages demand.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expects global demand to contract by 6.9 million barrels per day, or 6.9%, in 2020, it said in a monthly report. Last month, OPEC expected a small increase of 60,000 bpd in demand.
Brent crude futures rose 13 cents to settle at $27.82 a barrel. U.S. WTI settled flat at $19.87 a barrel.
Speculation mounted that the European Central Bank was looking to prevent further stress in the region's debt markets, where debt-to-GDP looks set to top 150% this year.
"We have had this big wave of big announcements by governments and central banks, and now we need to get into the nitty gritty of how it all works," said Gilles Moec, AXA Investment Managers chief economist.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 8/32 in price to push their yield down to 0.6173%.
The dollar index rose 0.438%, with the euro up 0.02% to $1.0837. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.02% versus the greenback at 107.94 per dollar,
Policymakers are starting to allow stringent lockdowns to ease, and firms are looking to restart. Germany is proposing reopening schools and some retailers starting May 4.
German carmakers Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz will restart production at some German factories next week and in other countries a week later.
Gold fell after climbing 1.3% as safe-haven demand weakened after U.S. jobless claims rose less than they did a week ago and hopes grew for an easing of coronavirus-led curbs.
U.S. gold futures settled down 0.5% at $1,731.70 an ounce.
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