US Equity Indexes Scale New Peaks as Jobless Claims Fall

12:43 PM EDT, 09/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose in midday trading on Thursday following a lower-than-expected jobless claims report issued a day after the Federal Reserve's first rate cut this year.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.1% to 22,516.1, the S&P 500 added 0.7% to 6,645.5 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.4% to 46,207.4, with each index touching new record highs earlier in the session. Technology led the gainers intraday, while the consumer staples sector was the steepest decliner.

US initial jobless claims fell by 33,000 to a level of 231,000 in the employment survey week ended Sept. 13, more than reversing an increase of 28,000 claims to a level of 264,000 in the prior week. Expectations were for a level of 240,000 claims, according to Bloomberg.

The fall in jobless claims proves that "last week's surge was a one-off," that was "inflated by a jump" in Texas, said Thomas Simons, chief US economist at Jefferies.

"There is a mix of fundamental reasons that suggest this increase is a one-off related to the beginning of the new legislative year in the state, but there were also reports of substantial fraud," Simons said in a note Thursday. "Whatever the case, claims in Texas fell back to normal this week."

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, a measure of the manufacturing industry's health, rebounded to 23.2 in September from minus 0.3 in August, beating analysts' forecast of 1.7 as polled by Bloomberg.

In company news, Intel (INTC) shares rose 28% after Nvidia (NVDA) said it will invest $5 billion in Intel (INTC) stock at $23.28 per share, as part of a collaboration to develop custom data center and personal computing products.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares were up over 3%.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) said overnight that data from a phase 3 trial of once-daily oral semaglutide 25-milligram pill showed an average weight loss of 16.6% in participants who adhered to the treatment, compared with 2.7% for placebo.

On Thursday, the company said its injectable Ozempic was linked to a 23% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, and death compared with dulaglutide in US Medicare patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) shares were up over 6% in recent trading.

The US 10-year Treasury yield rose 3.2 basis points to 4.11%. The two-year rate rose 2.1 basis points to 3.57%.

The ICE US Dollar Index was up 0.6% to 97.44.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $63.61 per barrel.

Gold was down 1.1% to $3,676.60 an ounce, and silver declined 0.2% to $42.08 per ounce.

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