BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures were flat after two days of strong gains, making Monday's major sell-off seem like a distant memory. The Dow rose another 286 points, or 0.8%, on Wednesday. Coupled with Tuesday's 549 point gain, the 30-stock average turned positive for the week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also gained nearly 1% on Wednesday. All three stock benchmarks, ahead of Wall Street's open Thursday, were less than 1% from their latest record closes on July 12. Investors seem to have shaken off their immediate concerns about the spread of the delta variant and the increase in Covid cases. (CNBC)

The Labor Department reported Thursday an unexpected jump in initial jobless claims to 419,000 for last week, the highest weekly count since May 15. New filings for unemployment benefits for the prior week were upwardly revised to 368,000. After the jobless claims report, the 10-year Treasury yield turned lower to roughly 1.27% after hitting a 5½-month low of nearly 1.13% earlier this week. Bond yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices. Stocks also took a premarket knock on the claims data. (CNBC)