Stock Markets Gain Despite Economic Data; CarMax Cracks, Darden Delivers as Earnings Season Approaches

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of economic disruptions, and workers have felt the brunt of the impact. Tens of millions of people lost their jobs during the shutdowns in the early months of the pandemic. Even now, unemployment levels remain elevated, and an unexpected rise in first-time unemployment insurance claims to 870,000 showed that people are still going through hard times. On Thursday just after 11:30 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was up 8 points to 26,771. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained 9 points to 3,246, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) managed to pick up 88 points to 10,720.

For stock investors, the tough economic environment has shown up in different ways with different companies. As third-quarter earnings season approaches, a couple of companies with nonstandard fiscal years gave us a sneak peek at what might be coming down the road. For CarMax (NYSE: KMX), the news was far from ideal. Yet for Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), some hints of a possible recovery made investors more optimistic.

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Source Fool.com