US stocks rise as tech shines ahead of Friday’s jobs report

U.S. stocks rose Thursday, as tech stocks rebounded ahead of the crucial monthly jobs report due Friday.

At 13:17 ET (17:15 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 177 points, or 0.5%, the S&P 500 gained 0.8%, and NASDAQ Composite added 1.1%.

Initial jobless claims jump to highest since January just ahead of nonfarm payrolls

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, according to data released earlier Thursday, with claims rising 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 221,000 for the week ended March 30. This was above the 214,000 expected.

Claims had bounced around between 212,000 and 210,000 for much of March, and this rise suggested that labor market conditions were weakening.

Signs of cooling in the labor market, come just days before Friday’s closely-watched nonfarm payrolls release for March.

Fed speakers, meanwhile, continued to lean into the Fed’s wait-and-see approach to cut rates. The Fed has the luxury of waiting to cut rates as inflation data since the turn of the year “has been a little less encouraging,” Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said Thursday.

Tech stocks rebound from recent wobble as Meta (NASDAQ:META) jumps to record

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Meta led the rise in big tech, with the latter rising more than 4% to a record high after Jefferies lifted its price target on the stock to $585 from $550.

Meta could capture about 50% of incremental industry ad dollars in 2024, with ad revenue potentially growing at 20%, supported by generative artificial intelligence, Jefferies said.

Levis Strauss, Conara Brands shine on earnings stage; Nikola powers ahead

Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) rose more than 15% after clothes retailer lifted its annual earnings guidance after clocking stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

The results reflect the company’s push toward a direct-to-consumer approach that is expected to continue to boost performance.

“We see continued expansion in gross margin as the company becomes more DTC-led and sees more growth in international and the tops category,” UBS said in a note as it lifted its price target on the stock to $25 from $23.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG), meanwhile, jumped more than 5% after the packaged goods food company raised its full-year adjusted operating margin outlook amid better-than-expected quarterly results as ramp-up in marketing boosted sales.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

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