US stock market today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 hold on to the green; Nasdaq boosted by Intel, Microsoft, Apple shares

US stock market today: The three main US stock market benchmark indices — the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the US megacap tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite — rose on Thursday, March 30 led by gains in financial and tech stocks. The blue-chip Wall Street gauges — the 30-scrip Dow Jones index and the 500-strong S&P — took positive moves across a majority of main markets across Asia and Europe, where banking stocks continued to rise after weeks of turmoil owing to the sudden collapse and then rescue of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank that fuelled fears of contagion and rocked global equities.

Rosy outlooks by companies such as chipmaker Micron the previous day continued to support tech stocks.

Investors awaited a key US GDP estimate and data on jobless claims from the US to assess the resilience of the world's largest economy and the future course of benchmark interest rates. 

The wild swings in banking stocks, thanks also in part to the last-minute rescue of the troubled Swiss lender, Credit Suisse, struck the global financial markets at a time when worries about higher-for-longer interest rates have kept the bulls cautious, as the Fed and other major central banks continue to fight red-hot inflation without damaging the pace of economic growth.   

Analysts say investors remain on the back foot thinking about the next possible batch of vulnerable businesses in the banking space and the prospect of more of aggressive rate hikes. 

US stock market today: Dow Jones jumps, S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite follow suit 

At 8:40 pm Thursday India time (11:10 am on Wall Street), the three main gauges held on to the green.  

• Dow Jones: up 63.7 points — or 0.2 per cent — at 32,781.3 
• S&P 500: up 21.4 points — or 0.5 per cent — at 4,049.3
• Nasdaq Composite: up 103 points — or 0.9 per cent — at 12,029.3 

The Dow Jones gained as much as 188.2 points to touch 32,905.8 in morning deals.

US stock market: Some of the big stocks that moved the most

GAINERS

LOSERS

Here's a list of key triggers for the US stock market to track today: 

• Quarterly GDP growth final estimate
• Initial jobless claims data
• Consumer spending data
• Fed official Tom Barkin due to speak

MSCI's All-Country World Index (ACWI) — aimed at capturing moves across major markets around the globe — was up 0.7 per cent at the last count. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up one per cent. Here's how the three main indices of the region fared.

• UK's FTSE 100: up 0.7 per cent
• France's CAC: up 1.1 per cent
• Germany's DAX: up 1.3 per cent

Indian equity benchmarks Nifty and Sensex were set to resume trade, and enter a new monthly F&O series, on Friday after the mid-week Ram Navami holiday. 

Catch latest market updates here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.