Shares on Wall Street edged higher on Thursday after the U.S. economy proved more resilient than expected in the final quarter of 2022.
The benchmark S&P 500 was up 0.7% in mid-afternoon trading in New York, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%. In Europe, the region-wide Stoxx 600 ended the day up 0.4% and London’s FTSE 100 added 0.2%.
The gains came after the US Commerce Department said the world’s largest economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the last three months of last year. That was above the 2.6% that economists had forecast, marking a milder slowdown from the 3.2% in the previous quarter.
A separate Labor Department report showed first-time jobless claims fell to 186,000 last week from 192,000 the previous week.
The robust data bolsters hopes that the US economy will cool enough to satisfy the Federal Reserve’s goal of slowing inflation, but not so much as to slide into a recession.
US government bonds sold off slightly as investors turned to riskier assets. The yield on the two-year Treasury note rose 0.04 percentage point to 4.18%, while the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose 0.03 percentage point to 3.49%.
Investors were also watching corporate reports closely, with shares of electric car maker Tesla jumping 11.8% after the company released its fourth quarter results on Wednesday evening.
The group posted record revenue of $24.3 billion for the period, up 37% from a year ago and ahead of the $24.2 billion expected by analysts. Net income of $3.7 billion was slightly above the forecast of $3.6 billion.
Elsewhere, prices for Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, have risen steadily this year and added 1.7% on Thursday to $87.58 a barrel. The dollar rose 0.2% against a basket of six other currencies.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1%.
