Wall Street closed mostly higher on Thursday buoyed by strong earnings results. A series of solid economic data also boosted market participants’ confidence on risky assets like equities. The Dow ended in positive territory. The Nasdaq Composite closed marginally higher while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.4% or 161.35 points to close at 43,239.05, marking its fresh closing high. Notably, 17 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 13 in negative zone. In intraday trading, the blue-chip index also posted an all-time high at 43,289.80.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 18,373.61, gaining 6.53 points due to strong performance by technology giants. The S&P 500 fell by 1 point to finish at 5,841.47. Seven out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while four in positive zone. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) decreased 0.9%, and 0.7%, respectively.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 2.4% to 19.11. A total of 11.34 billion shares were traded on Thursday, lower than the last 20-session average of 12.08 billion.  

Solid Start of Q3 Earnings Season

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM Quick QuoteTSM - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $1.94, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.74. Quarterly total revenue came in at $23,504 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $22,717 million. 

The Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV Quick QuoteTRV - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $5.24, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.79. Quarterly total revenue came in at $11,849 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11,683 million. 

Consequently, stock prices of Taiwan Semiconductor and The Travelers jumped 9.8% and 9%, respectively. Taiwan Semiconductor currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Economic Data

The Department of Labor reported that initial claims increased by 19,000 to 241,000 for the week ended Oct 12, lower than the consensus estimate of 260,000. Previous week’s data was revised upward by 2,000 to 260,000 from 258,000 reported earlier.

Continuing claims (those who have already received government aids and reported a week behind) increased 9,000 to 1.867 million for the week ended Oct 5. The previous week's level was revised downward by 3,000 from 1.861 million to 1.858 million.

The Department of Commerce reported that retail sales in September increased 0.4% in line with the consensus estimate. The metric for August was 0.1%. In September, retail sales increased 1.7% year over year. Store sales were up 1.4%, online sales were increased 7.1% and food and beverage sales were up 3.7%.

Core retail sales in September increased 0.5%, beating the consensus estimate of 0.3%. The metric for August was revised upward to 0.2% from 0.1% reported earlier.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System reported that industrial production fell 0.3% in September inline with the consensus estimate. The metric for August was revised downward to 0.3% from 0.8% reported earlier. 

Capacity utilization decreased marginally to 77.5% in September from 77.8% in August. The consensus estimate was also 77.8%. The metric for August was reported earlier at 78%.