S&P 500 gains for fourth day to match year’s longest win streak, Dow jumps 300 points

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as Wall Street built on its modest winning streak ahead of key jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 346 points, or about 1.1%. The S&P 500 added 1.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.3%. The S&P 500 notched first four-day winning streak since late March.

Energy stocks were among those leading the gains on Thursday, reversing some recent losses as oil prices rebounded. Exxon rose 3.2%, and Occidental Petroleum gained nearly 4%.

Freeport-McMoRan and Nucor rose 6.7% and 4.3%, respectively, as commodity stocks climbed.

Chipmakers boosted the tech sector after South Korea’s Samsung posted an 11% jump in profit and 21% surge in revenue for the latest period on strong sales of memory chips. Shares of AMD and Nvidia gained 5.2% and 4.8%, respectively. On Semiconductor jumped more than 9%.

The S&P 500’s four-day winning streak matches its longest of the year, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

“There’s not necessarily much conviction in this move, but it is nice to see that, in the absence of new negative news, that markets are bouncing off of short-term oversold levels,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

Another notable mover was GameStop, which popped 15% after the video game retailer said a 4-for-1 stock split was approved by its board.

Solar stocks also outperformed, with Sunrun gaining more than 7%.

Even with the recent gains, the S&P 500 is still down about 19% from its all-time high in January.

“Bottoming is a process, so we’re working our way through that process,” said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist at LPL Financial. “We think, if the lows aren’t in, they’re close.”

On the economic front, initial jobless claims and continuing claims both ticked up slightly last week. The U.S. trade deficit for May came in slightly higher than expected at $85.5 billion but was still down month over month.

The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report is due out on Friday, and the employment data could warrant extra scrutiny as investors try to gauge the health of the U.S. economy.

“With anecdotes of Tech sector layoffs and hiring freezes, sub-50 readings in the Employment
Components of the most recent ISM Manufacturing and Services surveys, and rising unemployment claims (albeit from extremely low levels), Friday’s Jobs report will hold particular significance,” Credit Suisse chief U.S. equity strategist Jonathan Golub said in a note to clients.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect a gain of 250,000 jobs for June, which would be a slowdown from the 390,000 added in May.