US stocks climbed for a second day Thursday, helped by lower Treasury yields, as Wall Street clawed back the steep losses suffered earlier in the week.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury slipped 3 basis points to 4.24 per cent. The 2-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 4.56 per cent.

Investors have spent the week assessing where things stand in the U.S. economy, but a slew of indicators have given mixed signals so far.

Fresh data from Thursday morning revealed that retail sales dropped 0.8 per cent in January. That’s much more than the 0.3 per cent decline expected by economists, according to Dow Jones. This raised some concern about the strength of the U.S. consumer under the weight of sticky inflation and high interest rates, and sent Treasury yields down.

The broad stock index climbed 0.58 per cent, settling at 5,029.73, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.30 per cent to close at 15,906.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 348.85 points higher, or 0.91 per cent, to end at 38,773.12.

Tesla and Meta Platforms outperformed, rising 6 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. Shares of Wells Fargo rose 7 per cent after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ended a key penalty for the bank.

Nouveau Monde Graphite's shares soared 25 per cent following key off-take agreements with General Motors Company and Panasonic Energy. The deal with GM entails supplying 18,000 tons of anode material annually, with GM investing US$150 million to support operations. NOVONIX also secured an agreement with Panasonic Energy for 10 tons of synthetic graphite from their Riverside Facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Earnings season continued to paint a muddled picture of corporate America. Tripadvisor jumped 9 per cent after beating estimates on the top and bottom lines.

On the other hand, Cisco shares were down 2 per cent after the tech company announced layoffs and weak forward sales projections. Deere stock dropped 5 per cent after the agricultural machinery manufacturer lowered guidance for its full-year net income.

Equities rallied on Wednesday but did not erase all of the losses from Tuesday’s sell-off, which came on the heels of a hotter-than-expected inflation report. The S&P 500 recaptured the 5,000 level, closing slightly above it.

Turning to commodities, oil surged briefly above $83 per barrel, gold surpassed $2000 per ounce, and iron ore approached $130 per tonne, driven by the weakening US dollar.

Overall, all US sectors except for Tech closed higher overnight. Energy, Real Estate and Materials were the top performers.
 
Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.95 per cent gain.

Currency

One Australian dollar at 8.30am was buying 65.24 US cents.

Commodities

Gold added 0.58 per cent. Silver gained 2.56 per cent. Copper added 1.61 per cent. Oil gained 2.00 per cent.

Figures around the globe

European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.38 per cent, Frankfurt gained 0.60 per cent, and Paris closed 0.86 per cent higher.

Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.21 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.41 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.77 per cent higher at 7,605.72.

Ex-dividends
Argo Investments (ASX:ARG) is paying 16.5 cents fully franked
Symbio Holdings Ltd (ASX:SYM) is paying 35 cents fully franked

Dividends payable
Euroz Hartleys Group (ASX:EZL)
Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW)

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.

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