Stocks are losing ground, although still modestly higher, as oil rebounds from its $80 level.

Yet, it is one of the best weeks for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since April.

Communications Services is the best performing sector this afternoon driven by gains from Netflix (NFLX) and Meta Platforms (META). Technology (XLK) is also among the sectors’ leaders driven by strong performance in semiconductors and memory names. The Materials (XLB) sector is the laggard followed by Energy (XLE) and Industrials (XLI).

The KOSPI could be setting the tone, with the South Korean market closing up around 4% on Thursday to bring its gain from the July lows to over 20%.

Economic Data

Initial jobless claims rose to 209K, surpassing consensus of 202K, while continuing claims declined to 1.77M. The data signaled some resilience in the job market despite weaker signals from last Friday’s jobs report.

Ahead of tomorrow’s retail sales report, the latest Bank of America card data shows an acceleration in spending for the last week of July after a dip early in the month.