Nasdaq Soars To New All-Time High
The Nasdaq rocketed to an all-time high close Thursday in a session that showed little concern about what impact Friday’s employment numbers will have. Technologys and Internets set the pace, driving the Nasdaq up nearly 3%. The Nasdaq has now bounced back nearly 130 points from Wednesday’s low.
According to preliminary figures, the Nasdaq soared 99.07 points to close at 3452.78, the Dow rose 40.67 to 11039.06 and the S&P 500 gained 11.32 to 1409.04.
Internets were particularly strong, with Yahoo [YHOO>YHOO] hitting a new 52-week high and closing up 16 15/16 at 245 13/16. Checkpoint Software [CHKP>CHKP] , up 15 11/16 at 163 5/16, and PSINet [PSIX>PSIX], up 4 7/8 at 55 7/8, were also solid Internet performers.
Technology leaders included EMC Corp. [EMC>EMC], up 5 7/8 to 93 3/8, Oracle [ORCL>ORCL], up 5 1/4 to 75 15/16, and Sun Microsystems [SUNW>SUNW] up 5 13/16 to 136.
Among the best performing groups Thursday were Internets [$IIX.X>$IIX.X], up 5.6%, semiconductors [$SOX.X>$SOX.X], up 4.5%, and computer software [$CWX.X>CWX.X], up 4.1%.
Groups that saw weakness included oils [$OIX.X>$OIX.X], down 1.8%, oil services [$OSX.X>$OSX.X], down 3.8%, and Gold and Silver [$XAU.X>$XAU.X], down 2.0%.
Leading performers on the Dow included Alcoa [AA>AA], up 3 1/4 to 70 1/16, International Paper [IP>IP], up 1 1/2 to 52 9/16, and Hewlett Packard [HWP>HWP], up 3 3/8 to 99 7/8. Boeing [BA>BA] was the biggest laggard on the Dow and closed down 1 3/8 at 40 1/8.
Traders now look toward tomorrow’s employment numbers which will be released at 8:30 AM ET.