
Stocks held on for a win Thursday as bad-news-is-good-news jobs data offset a number of negative earnings reactions. The report lifted expectations for a September rate cut and kept the main indexes higher through the close.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9% at 39,387 – its seventh straight win – on strength in Home Depot (HD, +2.5%) and Caterpillar (CAT, +2.1%). The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 5,214, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% to 16,346.