Stocks closed with solid gains Thursday, rebounding to break a three-day losing streak despite the Labor Department reporting nearly 3 million more claims for unemployment benefits filed last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a gain of 377 points, rising 1.62 percent after falling by nearly 400 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each reversed early losses of close to 1.7 percent to close roughly 1 percent higher.
Stocks were on track for the fourth consecutive day of losses before rising oil prices and a rally in bank shares helped propel the market into the green. Wall Street’s three-day skid came amid new coronavirus outbreaks in South Korea and other nations that shook confidence in the U.S.’s ability to reopen and a stark warning from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about the long-term economic consequences of the pandemic.
Roughly 36.5 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The new batch of jobless claims came before a Thursday’s opening losses, but failed to shake traders away from an afternoon rally.