Stock market live Thursday: Rally off the lows, Dow swings 800 points, bank stocks lead comeback

U.S. stocks rebounded from a 450 point drop earlier on Thursday. Shares of bank stocks rose, offsetting another gloomy jobless claims report from the Labor Department. Another 3 million Americans hoping for unemployment benefits added to investor worries about the uncertain path ahead for the global economy.

• The Dow closed up 1.62% for its first positive day in four led by UnitedHealth, gaining 4.54% and good for over 85 positive Dow points
• The Dow is down 2.9% week-to-date, on pace for its third negative week in four
• Sectors: 10 out of 11 sectors were positive today, led by financials up 2.64%
• The Nasdaq closed up 0.91% for its first positive day in three
• The Nasdaq is down 1.95% week-to-date
• The S&P 500 closed up 1.15% for its first positive day in three
• The S&P 500 is down 2.64% week-to-date
• The S&P 500 is down 11.71% year-to-date
• The Russell 2000 closed up 0.35% for is first positive day in four —Francolla

The Dow dug out of a 450-point hole to gain 377 points, or 1.62%, on Thursday. That marked the first positive day for the Dow this week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq lagged the Dow but still rose 1.15% and 0.91%, respectively. —Pound

The jobless claims number for Connecticut in Thursday's Labor Department release was roughly 10 times larger than it should have been, CNBC's Steve Liesman reports. The report listed Connecticut as having nearly 300,000 job losses, but the number should have been a little more than 29,000. —Pound

Oil prices jumped on Thursday, as the Street cheered production shut-ins and growing demand for gas. West Texas Intermediate gained 9.98%, or $2.27, to settle at $27.56. International benchmark Brent crude settled 6.65% higher at $31.13 per barrel. Prices have rebounded from their recent lows – which saw WTI at one point plunge below 0 and into negative territory – and Jeffrey Currie, Goldman Sachs' head of commodities research, believes the worst is now over. ""This market appears to have already turned the corner. We are in the inflection right now as we speak," he said Thursday on CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange." "We do think the market globally will be in a deficit by early June," he added. —Stevens

With roughly one hour left in the trading session, the Dow was headed for its first gain in four days as oil prices and bank stocks climbed. The 30-stock average traded about 60 points higher, or 0.4%. Still, the Dow remained down about 4% for the week, which would be its worst weekly performance since late March. —Imbert

Real estate company Redfin said in a blog post that home buying demand is now higher than it was before the coronavirus crisis hit the United States. The company measures demand as potential customers reaching out to Redfin agents or partner agents for service.

The company said that demand is now 5.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis than it was before the pandemic. New listings have also increased in recent weeks but inventory is down 24%, according to Redfin. —Pound

The major averages were all down at least 3% for the week, putting them on pace for their worst weekly performance since the one ending March 20. That week, the Dow and S&P 500 fell 17.3% and 14.98%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite dropped over 12% back then. This week's losses come as investors grow wary of the economic reopening. —Imbert

Oil prices jumped on Thursday, boosted by deep production cuts from suppliers as well as an uptick in demand for gas. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, gained $1.84, or 7.35%, to trade at $27.15 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude rose 5.9% to $30.90 per barrel. In its closely-watched monthly report, the IEA said it expects supply to fall by 12 million barrels per day this month, to a nine-year low of 88 million bpd. Separately, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed a surprise draw in inventories for the week ending May 8, as well as a jump in demand for gas as states begin to reopen their economies. – Stevens

Billionaire and activist investor Nelson Peltz told CNBC on Thursday that he's put new capital to work in two companies amid the springtime market sell-off and that he's bullish on a Covid-19 vaccine. Though he declined to name the two new stakes, he said the market swoon beat up the stocks too far and that they posed a good entry point. He also said he continues to like the Trump administration's policies and that he plans to vote to reelect the president in November. —Franck

Stocks accelerated gains in afternoon trading with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 150 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.25% but the Nasdaq Composite stayed in the red. A 5% jump in oil prices was helping sentiment.— Fitzgerald 

Around midday, the major averages traded well off their session lows thanks in part to strong gains from bank shares. The Dow traded about 100 points lower after falling more than 450 points. The S&P 500 traded 0.7% lower while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 1%. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America both climbed over 1% while Wells Fargo traded 6.2% higher. —Imbert

The firm virtually attended the AWS Summit and came away feeling bullish about the direction of the cloud based Amazon subsidiary. "COVID-19 accelerates the secular shift to the cloud, w/changes expected to persist past the crisis," analyst Doug Anmuth said. The firm also said it values "AWS at 20x our '21 EBITDA of $29.1B, totaling $582B in enterprise value." Amazon shares are up 27% this year. —Bloom

CNBC's Jim Cramer said on Wednesday's "Mad Money" that the sell-off had been exhausted during the first half of the week and that stocks would likely rise during Thursday's session. Food and drug stocks would likely lead the rally, Cramer said.

"These kinds of sell-offs usually last about three days. This one started yesterday. I'm betting things begin to improve tomorrow around 2:30 p.m.," Cramer said.

Stocks have bounced off their Thursday morning lows, with the Dow briefly trading in positive territory. —Pound

The Dow cut its losses by more than half to trade around 100 points down for the day. The Dow stock that saw the biggest rally was Cisco, up more than 5%, followed by American Express and JPMorgan. —Pound

Shares of JPMorgan rose 1.5% on Thursday as many of the large bank stocks outperformed the broader market. Wells Fargo jumped 4.8%, while Bank of America gained 0.5% and Citi slipped just 0.3%. Banks have been one of the weakest sectors since the coronavirus sell-off began due to concerns about low interest rates and rising loan losses. — Pound

The major indexes held firmly in the red one hour into Thursday's regular session with Dow industrials down about 340 points as Boeing and Apple led blue-chip names lower. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both fell at least 1.5% as Microsoft slid 2%, Alphabet dipped 1.5% and Intel lost 2.2%. Real estate investment trusts and industrials were the two-biggest laggards among the S&P 500 sectors. — Franck

Thursday's losses put the Dow on pace to do something it hasn't done since late April. The 30-stock average broke below its 50-day moving average for the first time since April 27. If it stays below it, it will mark the Dow's first close below the moving average since April 24. — Imbert, Francolla

• Jefferies initiated Netflix as buy.
• Credit Suisse upgraded CVS to outperform from neutral.
• Evercore ISI upgraded Best Buy to outperform from in line and downgraded Lowe's to in line from outperform.
• Piper Sandler raised its price target on Chipotle to $1,100 from $850.
• Stephens upgraded Rent-A-Center to overweight from equal weight.
• Citi added a positive catalyst watch on LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics.
• Bank of America downgraded SmileDirectClub to underperform from buy.
• Evercore ISI upgraded Wendy's to outperform from in line.
• Susquehanna initiated DraftKings as positive.
• Needham initiated SurveyMonkey as buy.

— Bloom

President Donald Trump said in a tweet Thursday morning that he is encouraged by early results from the states where coronavirus rules have been lifted. Trump also said that work on a potential vaccine looks 'promising' and could yield results by the end of the year. Many scientists and health officials have said that a widely available vaccine is unlikely until next year. — Pound

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U.S. stocks opened lower across the board Thursday morning as jitters over elevated jobless claims and Powell's comments in the prior session added to recent market losses. The Dow dropped 250 points at the open while the S&P 500 lost 1%; the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.75%. Boeing led the Dow lower while the energy and materials sectors weighed the most on the S&P 500. The Dow lost 516 points on Wednesday after the Fed chief warned of significant downside risks ahead for the U.S. economy. — Franck

Delta Air Lines disclosed in a filing Thursday that it will retire all 18 of its 777 planes by the end of 2020 in favor of more fuel-efficient A330s and A350-900s made by Boeing rival Airbus. It also disclosed in its government filing that it's burning about $50 million per day and that it has refunded more than $1.2 billion to customers since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Delta, which fell 3.3% in premarket trading, is set to open at a new seven-year low under $19 a share. Boeing shed 2.1%. — Franck

U.S. stock futures extended losses in the premarket session after the Labor Department reported that more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists had forecast. Dow futures fell 350 points, suggesting an opening decline of about the same magnitude. S&P 500 futures pointed to a 1.25% slide while the Nasdaq 100 was slated for a 1% loss at the open. — Franck

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 2.981 million more Americans filed for state unemployment benefits during the week ended May 9, adding to the droves of workers who've found themselves without employment amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The latest figure brings the eight-week total number of initial jobless claims to over 36 million amid one of the worst employment downturns in American history. — Franck

Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian said on "Squawk Box" that there was "nothing surprising" about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's gloomy comments earlier this week but that investors were looking for more clarity on policy. Powell spoke virtually to the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Wednesday morning, saying that there were downside risks to the economy and that further fiscal policy help may be needed to support the economy. Powell also said that the central bank was not considering using negative interest rates. "What the markets were hoping for was a stronger policy message. They were hoping for stronger policy guidance. And they didn't get that," El-Erian said. — Pound

U.S. stock futures weakened further ahead of the Labor Department's jobless claims report, set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. As of the latest reading, Dow futures fell 191 points and implied an opening loss of about 195 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures suggested falls of 0.75% each. — Franck

Shares of Cisco ticked up 2% in premarket trading on Thursday following the networking equipment maker's better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Cisco reported quarterly profit of 79 cents per share, topping the forecast 69 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $11.98 billion, higher than the $11.7 billion forecast on the Street. Cisco also gave an upbeat current-quarter forecast. Cisco has "added many new prospects through free WebEx trials that we anticipate converting to revenue in the future," CEO Chuck Robbins said on the conference call. He said in April there were over 500 million Webex meeting participants, amid the work-from-home trend during the pandemic. — Fitzgerald

Tesla's Freemont, California plant is open again for business. And if employees who have been called back to work choose to continue staying home, they could risk losing their benefits. "Once you are called back, you will no longer be on furlough so if you choose not to work, it may impact your unemployment benefits as determined by your local government agency – and not by Tesla. We completely respect your decision and will support you, without any penalties from us," an email from the automaker's HR chief Valerie Workman said. Musk has been a proponent of easing state-imposed business closures despite ongoing social distancing policies mandated in states including California. Musk initially reopened the Freemont factory in defiance of local orders, and authorities have not yet said if the company will face any repercussions. Shares of Tesla were about 2% lower in Thursday's premarket trading. — Stevens

With jobless claims expected to rise by more than 2 million on Thursday, economists and government officials are warning that the official unemployment rate will rise even higher in the coming months. Goldman Sachs economists now expect the rate to peak at 25% in the U.S. Some sectors may begin to bounce back even as the overall number gets worse, however. Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust, said the construction industry may see a boost in the near-term as the Paycheck Protection Program makes its way to workers. "Equipment that they rent, materials that they are bringing in for any specific job, are sort of a variable cost. So construction companies have an easier time going about taking PPP loans, paying their people," Tilley said. Goldman was less bullish on the construction sector but said manufacturing could recover relatively quickly, based on what has happened in Asia. — Pound

Investors await the Labor Department's latest update on the number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits. Though economists polled by Dow Jones expect another eye-popping 2.7 million initial claims filed during the week ended May 9, that estimate represents another deceleration in the historic spike in jobless claims amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Last week's jobless claims report, which showed 3.169 million Americans filed for benefits in the week prior, brought the seven-week tally to 33.5 million. — Franck

Stock futures pointed to modest declines in U.S. equity markets when regular trading resumes later Thursday morning. Dow futures fell 99 points, suggesting an opening decline of a similar 95 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both indicated losses of about 0.3%. Traders were waiting on the latest weekly jobless claims data, due at 8:30 am ET. The premarket moves Thursday morning come after somber comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sent the Dow down more than 500 points on Wednesday and led to a broad sell-off amid his prediction that the economy faces "significant downside risks." — Franck

— CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald and Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

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