Wall Street Close: Bulls stay on driver’s seat ahead of US NFP

• US equities remain firm, S&P 500 refresh record top for sixth day.
• Jobless Claims, ISM PMI, OPEC+ and IMF update become the key catalysts.
• Covid woes, pre-NFP anxiety probe further upside despite hawkish Fed.

Wall Street benchmarks closed higher on Thursday, with S&P 500 extending bull-run, as US data and comments from the IMF keep buyers hopeful ahead of the key Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP).

That said, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) added 131.02 points or 0.38% to 34,633.53 whereas Nasdaq rose 0.13%, or 18.4 points, to end the day’s trading near 14,522. Further S&P 500 refreshed its record top with a 4,320.66 level before closing the day around 4,319, up 0.52%.

Although the headline US ISM Manufacturing PMI came in a touch softer than 61.00 expected and 61.2 prior to 60.6 in June, the details relating to inflation were upbeat. Also backing the bulls were Weekly Jobless Claims and the four-week average of the early signal of today’s jobs report.

Additionally, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker told the Wall Street Journal that he supports the start of bond-buying pullback later this year. On the same line, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) upwardly revised its US GDP growth forecast from 4.6% in April to 7.0%.

While these catalysts together contributed to the market’s optimism, mixed chatters from the OPEC+ and fears over US President Joe Biden’s push for regulations on the global corporate giants joined the pre-NFP caution to probe the bulls. Furthermore, the worsening coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in Asia-Pacific could be cited as an additional barrier to the north.

Talking stock-specifics, Walgreens became the worst performer on S&P 500 with over 7.0% downside whereas Novocure slumped 14.5% on not-so-welcome results of phase 2 clinical trials of tumor treatment.

Against this backdrop, US Treasury yields pause around 1.45%, mildly bid, whereas the US dollar index (DXY) refreshed three-month high.

Moving on, investors will be interested in watching a firmer NFP figure, expected 690K versus 559K prior, for June, coupled with no negative surprises, to extend the latest optimism towards H2 2021.

Read: NFP Preview: Four reasons why June's jobs report could be a dollar downer