Wall Street Edges Higher at Open After Jobless Claims; Dow up 35 Points By Investing.com

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — U.S. stock markets edged to new record highs on Thursday on continued momentum generated by macroeconomic policy, as the spike in pot stocks appeared to go the same way as the one in GameStop (NYSE:) and other struggling icons of the 1990s.

By 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), the was up 35 points, or 0.1%, at 31,472 points, while the was up 0.4% and the was up 0.5%. The moves come after a report showed another small improvement in labor market trends, with initial jobless claims falling below 800,000 last week.

Analysts said the report was consistent with expectations of a broad economic recovery in the coming weeks as the pandemic recedes.

” With Covid cases and hospitalizations plummeting, the economy is now starting to re-open, albeit very slowly and patchily, but the direction of travel is clear,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with Pantheon Macroeconomics. “The seasonal patterns suggest that claims likely dip only slightly over the next few weeks, but the dominant force as the spring arrives will be the fading of Covid and the reopening.”

However, the cannabis stocks that had risen like shooting stars as they grabbed the attention of retail investors on social media chatboards were all giving up those gains. Tilray (NASDAQ:) stock fell 27%, while Aphria (NASDAQ:) stock was down 15.6% and Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:) stock was down 15.2%.

Among individual stocks, Uber (NYSE:) stock fell 1.7% after it reported a wider-than-expected loss for the last quarter in 2020, a move that represents only a modest retracement of recent gains. Anticipation of a sharp revival of the company’s core ride-hailing operations as the economy reopens have pushed the stock up 25% since late January.

Zillow (NASDAQ:) stock jumped 15% after the online realtor delivered a solid quarterly update. It also announced plans to acquire Chicago-based ShowingTime for $500 million.

Pinterest (NYSE:) stock meanwhile added 4.3% on a report that Microsoft (NASDAQ:) had looked at acquiring the image-sharing company.