Dow adds more than 300 points to record close, Nasdaq turns positive in afternoon jump

4:20pm: PayPal shares pop on earnings beat Traders stepped on the gas in the final hours, propeling the Dow 318 points higher, a gain of nearly 1%, to a record 34,549. The Nasdaq gained 50 points, 0.4%, to 13,633 after spending most of the day in the red, and the S&P 500 picked up 34 points, 0.8%, to finish at 4,202. PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) got in on the gains after the company reported earnings that came in ahead of expectations and revenue that jumped 31% year-over-year. Shares gained nearly 2% to $252.02. 12:20pm: Pharmaceutical stocks fall The Dow was up 162 points, 0.5%, to 34,393 at midday. The Nasdaq was ticked down 7 points to 13,576, and the S&P 500 picked up 12 points, 0.3%, to 4,180. "US jobless claims continue to fall, raising expectations of another strong jobs report tomorrow," IG Senior Market Analyst Joshua Mahony wrote. "Meanwhile, pharmaceutical stocks have lagged, with plans to remove vaccine patents sparking downside for the likes of BoiNTech, Moderna and Pfizer." Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech SE all saw share prices fall more than 2%. 11am: Proactive North America headlines: Marvel Discovery Corp (CVE:MARV) (OTCPINK:IMTFF) kicks off 2021 exploration program at Blackfly gold project in Ontario Binovi Technologies Corp (OTCQB:BNVIF) (CVE:VISN) touts 24% revenue growth, details US expansion and more in major corporate update Nextleaf Solutions Ltd (CSE:OILS) (OTCQB:OILFF) boosts CBD supply as its subsidiary strikes an initial supply agreement with a hemp partner PharmaDrug Inc (CSE:BUZZ) (OTCPINK:LMLLF) begins preclinical studies of Cepharanthine formulation in a wide range of cancers Golden Minerals Company (NYSEAMERICAN:AUMN) (TSE:AUMN) (FRA:7GB)  1Q revenue rises 25% to US$1.8M on Rodeo mine production Noble Capital starts coverage of Great Bear Resources Ltd (CVE:GBR) (OTCQX:GTBAF) (FRA:0G6A)and its potential Tier 1 gold deposit with 'Outperform' rating American Battery Metals  Corporation (OTCQB:ABML) enters contract to purchase 8 acres of land near Sparks, Nevada BioHarvest Sciences Inc (CSE:BHSC) (OTCMKTS:CNVCF) (FRA:8MV) to launch e-commerce sales of its dietary supplement VINIA in the US on May 12 ESE Entertainment Inc (CVE:ESE) (OTCQB:ENTEF) teams up with Bitcoin Vault on new esports gaming show Genprex Inc (NASDAQ:GNPX)  in-licenses additional gene therapy technologies to treat non-small cell lung cancer Esports Entertainment Group Inc (NASDAQ:GMBL) inks binding letter to acquire esports content creator Holodeck Ventures Predictmedix Inc (CSE:PMED) (OTCQB:PMEDF) deploys Safe Entry Stations at long-term care residence in partnership with Optima Living GR Silver Mining Ltd (CVE:GRSL) (OTCQB:GRSLF) (FRA:GPE) takes sole ownership of promising San Marcial project in Mexico after finalizing deal with SSR Mining CO2 GRO Inc (CVE:GROW) (OTCQB:BLONF) (FRA:4021) starts assessing benefits of its technology at tomato greenhouse in the UK Marrone Bio Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:MBII)  says its BIOSt Nematicide seed treatment product achieved outstanding climate impact score of 9.8 out of 10 Perma-Fix Environmental Services Inc (NASDAQ:PESI) (FRA:PFX1) CEO Paul Duffy lays out path for its treatment and services segments to come roaring back this year American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) to expand its sponsored research program with Purdue University for rare earth element purification Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CNSX:HEAT.CN) (OTCMKTS:HLRTF) (FRA:7HIA.F) appoints David Farrell as a strategic advisor to help guide innovation mapping and drive business expansion effort NexTech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQB:NEXCF) (NEO:NTAR) (CSE:NTAR) says its Virtual Experience Platform selected to host Canadian Higher Education Information Technology Conference Codebase Ventures  Inc (CSE:CODE) (FRA:C5B) (OTCQB:BKLLF) amends agreement to secure efficient bitcoin mining infrastructure swiftly Renforth Resources Inc (CSE:RFR) (OTCPINK:RFHRF) (FRA:9RR) reports more drill results from Parbec expected to positively impact resource estimate The Valens Company Inc (TSE:VLNS) (OTCQX:VLNCF) says it has found a new CFO, CCO and two board members in management transformation Great Panther Mining Limited (TSE:GPR) (NYSEAMERICAN:GPL) (FRA:G3U) says firmer metals prices and weaker Brazilian currency boosted first quarter numbers Orgenesis Inc (NASDAQ:ORGS) (FRA:45O) reaches milestone with US FDA approval of Tissue Genesis Icellator2 pilot trial Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc (TSE:TBP) (OTCQB:TBPMF) (FRA:JAM1) announces start of REBORN1 clinical trial using QIXLEEF to treat cancer pain 9.35am: Wall Street starts mixed Wall Street has made a mixed start to Thursday’s session despite the latest US jobless claims data coming in better than expected. In the early minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.15% at 34,280 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.09% to 4,163 and the Nasdaq dipped 0.42% to 13,524. The uneven open came despite the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week falling to 498,000, well below the 538,000 expected. It is the lowest level since March 14 and was a 92,000 drop from the previous week's level of 590,000, itself revised up by 37,000. The four week moving average, meanwhile, fell by 61,000 to 560,000, again the lowest since March 14. 8:00am: Wall Street set for slight rise The main indices on Wall Street are expected to edge higher at the opening bell on Thursday after a mixed performance in yesterday’s session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is sitting at a new peak, is expected to add just 21 points or 0.09% to 34,251 while the S&P 500 is set to rise 0.16% and the Nasdaq Composite - which fell on Wednesday - is forecast to recover 0.16%. Sophie Griffiths at Oanda said: "US indices are pointing to a subdued start after the Dow hit a fresh all-time high... News that President Biden supports the suspension of patents on Covid vaccines was bad news for drug makers but is good news for the global economic recovery. The quicker the world receives the vaccine, the faster global economic recovery will be, and the less likely we will see a vaccine-resistant mutation." On the US data front, there are the weekly jobless claims, which are expected to show a drop from 553,000 to 538,000. These come ahead of Friday's widely watched non-farm payroll numbers, which could see a million jobs added in April. On the non-farm numbers, Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said: "Average estimates are for a number in the region of 1m especially since weekly jobless claims are also trending lower dropping sharply below 600,000 a week, while the unemployment rate is expected to fall further, from 6% to 5.8%." Four things to watch for on Thursday: Firms reporting earnings today include industrial gas giant Linde PLC (NYSE:LIN), digital payments firm Square inc (NYSE:SQ) and real estate investment group Store Capital Corp (NYSE:STOR) Shares in ecommerce giant Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) could be in focus after founder Jeff Bezos recently offloaded US$2.5bn in shares Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) may also draw attention after reporting that reclassifying its UK drivers as staff rather than contractors has cost it US$600mln. On the macro front, aside from the jobless figures, some investors will be keeping an eye on any more details from the latest meeting of the Bank of England