U.S. Stocks Firmly Up In Positive Territory; Nasdaq Rises Nearly 2 Percent

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks are up firmly in positive territory Thursday afternoon with traders building up fresh positions amid hopes the central bank would gradually lighten its policy later this year.

Among the major averages, the Dow has pared some gains, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are posting new highs for the day.

The Dow is up 237.10 points or 0.76 percent at 31,274.78. The S&P 500 is up 47.25 points or 1.23 percent at 3,892.33, while the Nasdaq is up 225.03 points or 1.98 percent at 11,586.88.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting said the members of the central bank said there would be another 50 or 75-basis point move in the July meeting.

The minutes also said that the participants continued to anticipate that ongoing increases in the target range for the federal funds would be appropriate to achieve the monetary policy committee's objectives.

Still, Fed officials have acknowledged that higher rates might have a "larger-than-anticipated" impact on growth and are of the view that an increase of 50 or 75 basis points would likely be appropriate at the policy meeting in July.

Technology, energy and financials shares are among the major gainers in the market.

Caterpillar is gaining more than 4 percent. Boeing, Nike, Apple and Chevron are up 2 to 3 percent.

JP Morgan, IBM, Salesforce.com and American Express are also up with strong gains.

Shares of GameStop Corp are soaring more than 13 percent as the video game retailer's board approved a four-for-one stock split.

South Korean firm Samsung Electronics' better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter has buoyed up shares of Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia.

In economic news, data released by the Commerce Department shows U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $85.5 billion in May of 2022, from $87.1 billion a month earlier.

Exports were up 1.2 percent or $3.0 billion in May from a month earlier, to $255.9 billion, while imports increased to $341.4 billion in May from $339.5 billion in April.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims rose to 235,000 in the week ended July 2nd. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, initial claims rose by 11,919 from the previous week to 219,507.