Thursday's session on Wall Street ended with minor changes in the main indices. The focus of investors' attention was on companies from the arms sector, which increased due to Donald Trump's call for an increase in US military spending.
The Dow Jones Industrial was up 0.55% at the close. and amounted to 49,266.11 points. The S&P 500 increased by 0.01% at the end of the day. and amounted to 6,921.46 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.44%. up to 23,480.02 points The Russell 2000 mid-cap index is up 1.11%. up to 2,603.91 points The VIX index increases by 0.46%. up to 15.45 points
Shares of companies related to artificial intelligence fell during Thursday's session. Nvidia fell by more than 2 percent, Oracle fell by more than 1 percent. Apple shares recorded a seventh consecutive day of decline.
Rob Haworth, senior director of investment strategy at US Bank Asset Management, believes that technology and AI will remain an important topic in 2026, but he believes that what will matter is whether use cases for these tools begin to emerge and in what sectors. “We're seeing early signs of this in health care,” he said. “When we think about robotics, insurance, diagnostics, all of these companies are going to be early beneficiaries. That's where we think the growth story is,” he added.
Haworth added that the results will need to expand, pointing to industrials and financials as two key areas to watch. “Those stories are starting to look better this year, and I think that's going to be key for the trend to continue,” he said.
Defense stocks extended gains on Thursday, marking the fifth straight day of gains for the sector after Trump called for a 50% rally. increase in military spending in the USA. According to a post on TruthSocial on Wednesday, the president plans a budget of $1.5 trillion for 2027.
– After long and difficult negotiations with senators, congressmen, secretaries and other political representatives, I have decided that for the good of our country, especially in these very difficult and dangerous times, Our military budget for 2027 should not be $1 trillion, but $1.5 trillion, Trump wrote.
– This will allow us to build the 'Army of Dreams' to which we have long had the right, and more importantly, which will provide us with SAFETY and PROTECTION, regardless of the enemy – he added.
On Thursday, investors received a large portion of the latest macro data from the American economy. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time last week in the US was 208,000. Economists expected the number of new unemployed to be 212,000. against 200 thousand previously after correction from 199 thousand The number of unemployed people continuing to receive benefits was 1.914 million in the week ending December 27. The previous figure was 1.858 million, revised from 1.866 million.
The United States trade deficit in October amounted to USD 29.4 billion, compared to USD 48.1 billion a month earlier, after correction from USD 52.8 billion. Analysts expected a deficit of USD 58.7 billion.
US wholesalers' inventories increased by 0.2 month-on-month in October, the US Department of Commerce reported in its final reading. Initially estimated +0.2%. A month earlier, stocks increased by 0.5%.
The number of announced employee layoffs in the US in December dropped by 8.3%. year-on-year, after an increase of 23.5%. a month earlier – according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The number of planned layoffs was 35,553, up from 71,321 in the previous month.
Investors are awaiting Friday's employment data to gauge the likely path of interest rates this year. Markets expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates at least twice by 25 basis points.
On the oil market, WTI contracts for February are up by 4.54%. to USD 58.53 per barrel, and February Brent futures increase by 4.79%. up to USD 62.82/b. (PAP Business)
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