Benzinga Market Wrap for Thursday, August 1: Record Highs!

The U.S. stock market surged higher Thursday on strong global economic data. China, the Eurozone, and United States all beat analyst estimates.

Bullish news came from several automakers who reported their vehicle sales today. Ford F, General Motors GM, Chrysler and Nissan NSANY led the way with double digit gains.

Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 128.48 points, or 0.83 percent, to close at 15,628.02.
The S&P 500 added 21.14 points, or 1.25 percent, to finish at 1,706.87.
The Nasdaq rose 49.37 points, or 1.36 percent, to finish at 3,675.74.

Manufacturing Data
ISM manufacturing data sent global markets higher today. Kicking off the party was China, which showed growth significantly stronger than expected. In addition, the Eurozone showed growth for the first time in two years. The United States showed growth, but the price paid index fell.

Commodities
Crude oil futures soared on Thursday. At last check, NYMEX crude futures were trading up 2.64 percent to $107.80. Brent crude futures gained 1.67 percent and were trading at $109.50. Following the release of natural gas inventories, the commodity traded down 1.48 percent.

Precious metals recorded modest losses on the session. COMEX gold futures had shed 0.24 percent to $1,309.90 while silver contracts were last down 0.12 percent to $19.61.

In the grains complex, both corn and wheat fell on the day. Corn futures dropped 2.51 percent while wheat lost 0.94 percent.

Bonds
Treasuries were close to unchanged on Thursday. Near the close, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT was down a huge 2.24 percent to $105.01.

Yields were as follows on the day. The 2-Year Note yield was sitting at 0.32 percent. The yield on the 5-Year Note was 1.375 percent. The 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond were yielding 1.75 percent and 2.875 percent, respectively.

Currencies
The U.S. Dollar picked up value today, roughly one percent higher according to the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last down 0.71 percent to $1.3208. Other movers included the USD/JPY, which added 1.62 percent and the USD/CAD, which picked up 0.67 percent.

Volatility and Volume
The CBOE Volatility Index was significantly lower Thursday. At last check, the widely watched measure of volatility expectations had fallen 2.75 percent to 13.07.
Despite one of the busiest earnings days of the quarter, volume was low today with roughly 90 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY traded, approximately 25 percent lower than the three month average.

Stock Movers
Shares of Yelp YELP had climbed more than 25 percent heading into the close. This comes after the company reported better than expected earnings.

Ctrip.com CTRP is up almost 20 percent today following strong second quarter results. Shares almost crossed the $46 level.
Up 11 percent heading into the close, Ruckus Wireless RKUS reported strong second quarter results, beating the analyst EPS estimate by 67 percent.
JC Penney JCP is seeing volume four times higher than average after the company claimed a credit rumor posted yesterday is false.
Halozyme Therapeutics HALO traded down 17 percent on VPHM update.
Sun Power SPWR is down more than 13 percent heading into the close after the company reported weak third quarter guidance.