Market News
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday as investors digested the fourth-quarter earnings and economic data. The Dow ended in positive territory, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite finished in the negative zone.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.1%, or 55.96 points, to close at 49,071.56. Twenty-two components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory, and eight ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7% to close at 23,685.12.
The S&P 500 lost 0.1%, or 9.02 points, to end at 6,969.01. Out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, four ended in negative territory while seven ended in positive territory. The Information Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY), and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) fell 1.9%, 0.6%, and 0.3%, respectively, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) rose 1.4%.
The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), increased by 3.2% to 16.88. A total of 23.36 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 18.83 billion. The S&P 500 posted 51 new 52-week highs and 20 new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 611 new highs and 176 new lows.
Mixed Q4 Earnings Results
Mastercard Incorporated MA reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of $4.76 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.2 per share. Revenues of $8.8 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.80%.
Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of $5.16 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.67. Revenues of $19.13 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.60%.
Tractor Supply Company TSCO reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of $0.43 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.46. Revenues of $3.9 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.74%.
Consequently, shares of Tractor Supply fell 7.6%, while Mastercard and Caterpillar rose 4.3% and 3.4%, respectively. Each of the three companies carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic Data
In economic data released on Thursday, the Labor Department said that jobless claims totaled 209,000 for the week ending Jan. 24, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 210,000. The four-week moving average was 206,250, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 204,000.
Continuing claims came in at 1,827,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,903,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,865,000, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,874,750.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that wholesale inventories had increased 0.2% in November, unchanged from the 0.2% rise in October.
The Department of Commerce reported that factory orders (new orders for both manufacturing durable and nondurable goods) for November increased 2.7% month over month, higher than the consensus mark of an increase of 1.5%. However, the metric for October was revised downward to a decrease of 1.2% from a decrease of 1.3% reported earlier.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in November increased by 5.3%. Shipments of manufactured durable goods in November decreased by 0.3%.
Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector decreased 1.9% in the third quarter of 2025.
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Free Stock Analysis Report Caterpillar Inc. (CAT): Free Stock Analysis Report Tractor Supply Company (TSCO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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