STOCK MARKET NEWS: Dow adds 346 points, oil hits $102 and GameStop shake-up

After the closing bell, GameStop disclosed it fired Chief Financial Officer Michael Recupero who will be replaced by Diana Saadeh-Jajeh who was most recently the company’s Chief Accounting Officer as explained in a filing with the SEC. The stock declined in after-hours trading.

Year-to-Date, shares are down 9%.

Additionally, Axios reported the company is announcing layoffs.

“Steve Jobs was the inventor of the century, a man who believed technology infused with humanity could enrich people’s lives and empower them to do extraordinary things. This is a much deserved honor, and we are proud to celebrate Steve’s legacy today and every day” the company said in a statement.

Ahead of Friday’s highly anticipated monthly jobs report, U.S. stocks rose across the board led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and semiconductor companies including Qualcomm and AMD. 10 of the S&P’s 11 sectors also rose led by energy as oil jumped over 4% to $102.73 per barrel, the biggest percentage jump since early May. 

President Biden awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 recipients.

The Biden Administration is awarding $1 billion
to 85 airports to help upgrade the compromised U.S. infrastructure.

Weekly jobless claims inched higher by 4,000 to 235,000 vs. 231,000 ahead of the monthly jobs report due on Friday.

GameStop’s Board of Directors has ok-ed a four-for-one stock split. Shareholders of record on July 18, 2022 will receive the split shares after the close of trading July 21 with trading to begin on June 22.

U.S. stocks rose across the board on Thursday as chipmakers including Intel, AMD and Nvidia helped drive the gains following a strong profit report from Samsung. Investors are also positioning ahead of Friday’s jobs report after weekly jobless claims ticked higher to 235,000. In commodities, oil rebounded by 3% to $90 per barrel. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday.

Multiple people, including his two latest cabinet appointments, had called on him to step down amid ethics scandals and dozens of ministers and officials in his Conservative government have resigned this week.

U.S. equity futures were trading higher Thursday morning, adding to the gains from the prior session.

U.S. stocks posted modest gains Wednesday as investors looked at the possibility of another sizable rate hike from the Federal Reserve at the July meeting, according to the prior meeting minutes. This was aimed at curtailing red hot inflation.

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The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline slipped on Thursday morning to $4.752, according to AAA. The price on Wednesday was at $4.779. Gas has declined for 20 straight days. Diesel slipped as well to $5.698 down from $5.716

Benchmark U.S. crude traded at $98 per barrel
in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 97 cents to $98.53 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international trading was at $100 per barrel in London. It tumbled $2.08 the previous session to $100.69.

Bitcoin is trading around $20,000, after snapping a two-day winning streak heading into Thursday’s trading. The cryptocurrency is down more than 55% year-to-date.

Bitcoin is also down more than 69% from its all-time high set in November. Ether is trading around $1,100 and Dogecoin is at 6 cents.