US Equity Indexes Higher on Jobless Claims, Manufacturing Data

04:14 PM EDT, 09/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes were higher Thursday on better-than-expected initial jobless claims and manufacturing industry reports.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.94% to 22,470.7, the S&P 500 rose 0.48% to 6,631.9, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.27% higher at 46,142.1, with each index touching new record highs earlier in the session. The technology sector led the gainers, while consumer staples paced the decliners.

The CBOE Volatility Index rose 0.19% to 15.75.

Most Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield up 4.6 basis points to 4.12% and the two-year rate 3.1 basis points higher at 3.57%.

Gold futures fell 1% to $3,677.8.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures declined by 0.58% to $63.68 a barrel.

In economic news, US initial jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 13 fell by 33,000 to 231,000 from 264,000 in the week prior, and below the 241,000 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The decline in jobless claims shows that "last week's surge was a one-off," which 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 Thursday note. "Whatever the case, claims in Texas fell back to normal this week."

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index also rebounded to 23.2 in September from minus 0.3 in August, and above the 1.7 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In company news, Intel (INTC) shares rose 22.7% in recent trading, the top performer on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, after Nvidia (NVDA) said Thursday it will invest $5 billion in Intel (INTC) stock at $23.28 per share as part of efforts to build custom data center and personal computing products. Under the agreement, Intel (INTC) will develop Nvidia's (NVDA) custom x86 CPUs for AI infrastructure platforms as well as new x86 system-on-chips that integrate Nvidia's (NVDA) RTX GPU chiplets. Nvidia (NVDA) shares were up almost 3.5%.

FactSet Research Systems (FDS) shares fell 10.3%, the steepest decline in the S&P 500, after it reported lower-than-expected fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings and full-year fiscal 2026 EPS guidance.

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