U.S. Markets, trading on the U.S. bourse picked up towards the final hour of trading on Thursday as tech led the broader averages higher. 

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 3%, while the S&P rose 2.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.8% or over 600 points. Investors discounted a surprise decline in 1Q GDP of 1.4%. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 33916.39 +614.46 +1.85%
SP500 S&P 500 4287.5 +103.54 +2.47%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 12871.52 +382.59 +3.06%

Facebook's parent company Meta, soared following its latest quarterly earnings, which topped Wall Street's estimates.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
FB META PLATFORMS INC. 205.73 +30.78 +17.59%
 

McDonald's earnings also positive. Higher U.S. menu prices and easing COVID-19 restrictions elsewhere helped McDonald’s offset troubled markets like China and Russia in the first quarter. Revenue rose 11% to $5.66 billion in the January-March period, topping Wall Street expectations of $5.57 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
MCD MCDONALD'S CORP. 254.19 +7.05 +2.85%

Twitter reported a mixed quarter and declined to provide a forecast citing its pending acquisition by Elon Musk. 

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Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TWTR TWITTER INC. 49.15 +0.61 +1.27%


Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AAPL APPLE INC. 163.64 +7.07 +4.52%
INTC INTEL CORP. 46.84 +1.62 +3.58%

Commodities, Oil prices moved higher Thursday as markets remain concerned about falling demand, especially in China due to COVID-19 restrictions. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose to $105.36 per barrel. Brent futures, the global benchmark, moved up to $107.59. 

Labour news, the Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims matched last week coming in at 180,000 holding at pre-pandemic levels. It would also mark the 10th week that claims came in below 200,000. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, were 1.408 million.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin crossed back above $40,000.