• U.S. stock indexes rose on Thursday as investors absorbed the latest unemployment data.

• The number of jobless claims fell by 17,000 last week, the biggest decline in nearly a year.

• JPMorgan analysts raised their expectations that there would be a recession by year-end from 25% to 35%.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as investors were faced with better-than-expected employment data.

Initial jobless claims fell 17,000 to 233,000 last week, compared to an 11-month high of 250,000 the previous week, according to U.S. Labor Department data released Thursday.

That’s the biggest drop in jobless claims in nearly a year and below estimates of 240,000. The reading should give investors more confidence in the labor market after last week’s weak nonfarm payrolls report for July sparked fresh concerns about a looming recession.

The data “could give the market a boost,” said Chris Zaccarelli, CIO of the Independent Advisor Alliance, in a statement Thursday.

“The signs of a growth slowdown are obvious to anyone looking closely, but with a baseline of +2.8% GDP growth, it is hard to believe that a recession has already started. We are cautious but believe that the panic that began earlier this month was overdone,” he added.

The yield on 10-year government bonds rose three basis points to over 4% following the report.

The data comes after last week’s disappointing employment report and a surprise interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan sparked a historic three-day sell-off through Monday.

Investors remain on tenterhooks for the Fed’s next move, currently pricing in a 100 percent probability of rate cuts in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Some economists called for emergency rate cuts earlier this week, but experts say the Fed will likely wait until September.

Meanwhile, analysts at JPMorgan said they expect a 35 percent chance of recession by the end of the year, up from 25 percent at the beginning of July.

The next key data point for investors will be next week’s inflation rate, as the consumer price index for July is scheduled to be released on August 14.

Here you can see the situation of the US indices shortly after trading began at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday:

Here’s what else is happening today:

The story continues

For commodities, bonds and cryptocurrencies:

• Oil futures were trading in the red. The price of WTI crude oil fell slightly to 75.20 dollars per barrel. The international reference price for Brent crude oil fell by 0.1 percent to 78.18 dollars per barrel.

• Gold rose 1.23% to $2,412.05 an ounce.

• The yield on 10-year government bonds rose three basis points to 4.003%.

• Bitcoin rose 0.37% to $57,592.39.

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