US stock markets pushed to new highs once again with the Dow Jones adding 0.04%, the S&P 500 0.3% and the Nasdaq 0.4% following Wednesday’s confirmation that inflation may be abating. Similarly, those seeking unemployment benefits fell for the third week.
Healthcare and technology were the key contributors with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) adding 2%and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) 1%. Share markets have nearly doubled since the depths of the pandemic.
China unveils blueprint
China was in the spotlight once again after the Communist Party released a five-year blueprint for the economy that calls for greater regulation of technology companies and those with significant monopolies. Those expected to face more laws include food and drugs, big data and AI.
Airbnb sales jump on reopening
Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) appears to have navigated the pandemic reported a quadrupling of revenue to US$1.3 billion from US$335 million, a 10% increase on 2019 levels.
This bodes well for a return to travel in Australia once the vaccination rate is increased. Despite the strong headline results, Airbnb shares are down nearly 5% after-hours as management flagged concerns about Delta.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular stocks performed on Thursday.
- Opendoor (NASDAQ: OPEN) up 24.0%
- Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) up 11.4%
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) up 2.1%
- Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) down 4.2%
- Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) down 6.4%
- Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) down 7.9%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow US markets higher at the open on Friday. For a digest of all of the latest results, from Telstra, NAB, AMP and more, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
