Thursday morning brought a wave of optimism to Wall Street, with major indexes posting solid gains and some encouraging economic data to chew on.

After the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.41% to 49,352.44, while the NASDAQ outpaced its peers with a 0.78% surge to 23,655.17. The S&P 500 split the difference, rising 0.55% to 6,964.89.

Sector Scorecard: Tech Wins, Healthcare Stumbles

Information technology stocks were having a particularly good morning, jumping 1.4% to lead all sectors. On the flip side, healthcare stocks were the day's laggards, dipping 1% as investors rotated out of defensive positions.

Goldman Sachs Delivers Where It Counts

The morning's headline came from The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS), which reported fourth-quarter earnings that handily beat expectations. The investment banking giant posted earnings of $14.01 per share, crushing the analyst consensus estimate of $11.65 per share—that's a beat of more than 20%. The only blemish was revenue, which came in at $13.454 billion versus expectations of $13.791 billion. Still, when you beat earnings by that margin, investors tend to forgive a revenue miss.

Small-Cap Movers and Shakers

While the big indexes moved steadily higher, some smaller names were having truly wild days.

On the upside, Callan JMB Inc. (CJMB) absolutely exploded, rocketing 244% to $3.8499 after announcing a strategic teaming agreement with Biostax Corp d/b/a Attune Biotech to provide comprehensive federal oversight services.

Springview Holdings Ltd (SPHL) wasn't far behind, surging 176% to $6.35 on news of a strategic partnership with Jiangsu GSO New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to introduce solar and green-energy solutions for residential housing in Singapore.

authID Inc. (AUID) also had a banner day, jumping 91% to $1.89 after announcing an integration with ServiceNow.

The downside was equally dramatic. MetaVia Inc. (MTVA) tumbled 44% to $3.15 after pricing an $8.1 million underwritten public offering—dilution concerns, as usual.

Inspire Veterinary Partners, Inc. (IVP) dropped 38% to $0.0510, giving back some of Wednesday's massive 256% gain that came after the company filed to increase its authorized Class A common stock from 100 million to 700 million shares.

TryHard Holdings Limited (THH) fell 35% to $20.54 as the company announced a Memorandum of Cooperation with STAR PARTY HK LIMITED to explore a potential joint venture in Japan.

Commodities Take a Hit

The commodity complex had a rough morning. Oil took the biggest beating, falling 4.6% to $59.15, while gold slipped 0.5% to $4,611.40. Silver dropped 2.3% to $89.285, and copper declined 2% to $5.9385.

Global Markets Mixed

European markets couldn't quite find a unified direction. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.4%, and London's FTSE 100 gained 0.4%, while Germany's DAX added 0.2%. But Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.3%, and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.1%.

Asian markets finished lower across the board. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.42%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.28%, and China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.33%.

Economic Data Surprises to the Upside

The morning brought several economic releases, and most of them beat expectations. U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 from the previous week to 198,000 in the week ending January 10, well below market estimates of 215,000. That's a sign the labor market remains surprisingly resilient.

Manufacturing data was even more encouraging. The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index surged to 7.7 in January from a revised reading of negative 3.7 in December, easily topping estimates of 1. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index jumped 21.4 points to a reading of 12.6 in January, suggesting factory activity is accelerating.

On the trade front, U.S. import prices increased 0.1% year-over-year in November, while export prices rose 3.3% year-over-year.