U.S. market indexes were higher on Thursday as the economy’s direction continued to appear positive. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18597.70 for a gain of 23.76 points or 0.13 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2187.02 for a gain of 4.80 points or 0.22 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5240.15 for a gain of 11.49 points or 0.22 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 11.49 for a loss of -0.70 points or -5.74 percent.

Thursday’s Market Movers

On the economic calendar, jobless claims were lower by 4,000 bringing the total to 262,000. The Conference Board’s Leading Indicators Index gained 0.4 percent from the previous month. Investors continued to digest the Fed’s July meeting minutes as well as the overall positive outlook for the economy. With the positive direction it appears likely that the Fed will raise rates once in 2016 potentially in September or December. Fed speeches from William Dudley, John Williams and Robert Kaplan on Thursday supported the Fed’s tightening position.

Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:

Chesapeake Energy
Bank of America
Cisco
AT&T
Huntington Bancshares
Wal Mart
Marathon Oil
Williams Companies
Ford
EMC

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average the following stocks led gains for the day:

Gains (percent)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc 1.85
Chevron Corp    1.31
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co     1.24
Exxon Mobil Corp             0.91
Nike Inc B            0.64
International Business Machines Corp     IBM        0.62

Top sectors for the broad market were energy and utilities. S&P 500 technology stocks were just slightly lower for the day on Thursday. The following technology stocks led gains and losses:

Gains (percent)
NetApp Inc         17.44
Liberty Media Corp          9.53
Western Digital Corp      2.41

Losses (percent)
NetEase Inc ADR               -2.77
Viacom Inc B      -2.15
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc        -1.57

In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.61 points or 0.47 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.63 points or -0.67 percent to 94.09.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was higher at 1236.59 for a gain of 8.91 points or 0.73 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 748.81 for a gain of 4.93 points or 0.66 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7553.16 for a gain of 63.11 points or 0.84 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was higher at 8755.27 for a gain of 50.54 points or 0.58 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1561.27 for a gain of 10.99 points or 0.71 percent; the S&P 100 Index which closed at 967.04 for a gain of 0.55 points or 0.06 percent; the Russell 3000 Index which closed at 1292.22 for a gain of 3.70 points or 0.29 percent; the Russell 1000 Index which closed at 1211.14 for a gain of 3.03 points or 0.25 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 624.70 for a gain of 4.80 points or 0.77 percent.