Dow Jones jumps 337 points as debt ceiling deal reached by lawmakers

Both the Senate and the House must approve the debt ceiling hike

U.S. stock indexes surged Thursday after lawmakers reached a short-term deal to raise the debt ceiling. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337 points, or 0.98%, while the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.83% and 1.05%, respectively. The Dow was up 558 points at session highs.  

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 37986.4 +211.02 +0.56%
SP500 S&P 500 4967.23 -43.89 -0.88%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15282.009722 -319.49 -2.05%

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a deal has been reached to extend the debt ceiling through early December. A report out Wednesday said Republicans were willing to raise the limit, but that they wanted a deal tied to a number and not a specific date. A vote must still take place in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In economic data, initial jobless claims fell by 38,000 to 326,000 last week, making for the first decline in a month. Continuing claims, meanwhile, hit a pandemic-era low of 2.714 million. The report, which exceed analysts' expectations, sets the stage for Friday's jobs report.

INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS FALL TO 326K FIRST DIP IN FOUR WEEKS

In stocks, mega cap technology companies, including Apple Inc., Amazon Inc. and Microsoft Corp., gained for a third straight day.  

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AAPL APPLE INC. 165.00 -2.04 -1.22%
AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 174.63 -4.59 -2.56%
MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 399.12 -5.15 -1.27%

Meanwhile, Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corp. agreed to buy magazine publisher Meredith for $42.18 per share, or $2.7 billion. The deal does not include the local media group Gray Television, which was sold for $16.99 per share and is scheduled to close later this year. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
IAC IAC INC. 48.00 +0.41 +0.86%
MDP n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Twitter Inc. reached a deal to sell mobile ad company MoPub to AppLovin for $1.05 billion cash. Twitter bought the company in 2013 in a deal that was estimated to be worth more than $350 million.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TWTR n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
APP APPLOVIN 66.80 -2.06 -2.99%

Elsewhere, Costco Wholesale Corp. said September sales spiked 15.8% from a year ago, topping analysts’ forecasts. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
COST COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP. 709.51 -1.74 -0.24%

Levi Strauss & Co. reported earnings and revenue that exceed estimates as back-to-school shopping boosted sales. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
LEVI LEVI STRAUSS & CO. 20.55 +0.04 +0.20%

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 87 cents to $78.30 a barrel and gold lost $2.60 to $1757.90 an ounce. 

Overseas markets were in rally mode.

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European bourses were sharply higher with Britain’s FTSE 100 gaining 1.17%, Germany’s DAX 30 rising 1.85% and France’s CAC 40 advancing 1.65%. 

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index soared 3.07% ad Japan’s Nikkei 225 ticked up 0.54%. China’s Shanghai Composite remained closed for holiday.