US stock market today: Dollar rises, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones jump; Top performing stocks on Thursday

US Stock market indices soared today as Standard and Poor's Stock Indexes for Thursday shows MidCap 400, 500 Stocks, and 100 Stocks were all up. S&P 500 added 1.6 percent to 5,543.22, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4 percent to 40,563.06, the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index surged by 2.3 percent to 17,594.50.

Among stocks, shares of AbbottLab, Accenture, Aegon, Agilent, Barclay, Blackstone, Citigroup gained.

US Retail Sales

Wall Street logged a strong showing Thursday with all three major indices rallying on the back of encouraging consumer data that soothed earlier fears of a potential downturn.


This came after US retail sales rose 1.0 percent in July from June, exceeding expectations and reassuring investors about the health of the world's biggest economy.

US Dollar Rises

Meanwhile, the dollar index rose 0.42 per cent to 103.03, and moved away from the eight-month low of 102.15 touched last week.

US Market Today - Top Stocks

Retail sales increased 1.0 per cent after a downwardly revised 0.2 per cent drop in June, easing fears of a sharp economic slowdown fanned by a jump in the unemployment rate last week.

Retail bellwether Walmart rose 6.58 per cent after raising its annual profit forecast for the second time this year as Americans flocked to its stores for inexpensive essentials.

Rivals Target and Costco also advanced 4.35 per cent and 1.69 per cent, respectively.

Among other movers, Cisco Systems rose 6.8 per cent after it forecast better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and said it was cutting 7 per cent of its global workforce.

Nike climbed 5.07 per cent as billionaire investor William Ackman built new stakes in the sportswear company. Ulta Beauty jumped 11.17 per cent after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired a stake in the cosmetics store chain.

FAQs

Q1. Which are US Stock market indexes?
A1. S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the tech-focused Nasdaq.

Q2. How was Dollar's performance?
A2. Dollar index rose 0.42 per cent to 103.03, and moved away from the eight-month low of 102.15 touched last week.