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ECB and claims — What you need to know in markets on Thursday

US investors will turn their attention to Europe on Thursday, as the European Central Bank’s latest policy statement will be the day’s big economic news.

On the US economic front, we have just the weekly report on initial jobless claims featuring.

Economists expect initial filings for unemployment insurance will total 255,000, which would mark the 92nd straight week claims are below 300,000.

These reports come amid what’s been a quiet week in economic news, as Friday’s report on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is the last notable event on the calendar.

On Wednesday, the Dow and S&P 500 both hit a new record high, the Dow’s 12th since the presidential election.

Big moves get smaller

On Wednesday, the Dow gained 298 points. This is a lot!

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But we are conditioned in financial markets to react every time we hear an average the blue chip index moved at least triple digits. This, roughly, seems to be the cutoff for “noticing” what the Dow did on a given day.

The Dow’s closing level on Wednesday was a fresh record of 19,549.62. But with the Dow now within shouting distance of 20,000, our friends over at Bespoke Investment Group remind us that a triple-digit move isn’t, as the old timers say, what it once was.

“If the Dow gets up to 20,000, obviously that means a 100-point gain translates into a move of exactly half a percent,” the firm wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

“Below is a chart that shows the impact of a 100-point Dow move in percentage terms based on where the index is trading in price. This is obviously common-sense stuff, but we thought it was worth posting given that the index is quickly approaching the 20,000 mark. From a psychological perspective, a 100+ point Dow move still seems like a big gain or decline in the minds of most investors, but the reality is that at these levels, the index needs to move 200+ points to be categorized as a ‘big move.'”

So, 200 is the new 100. Or something like that.

Source: Bespoke Investment Group
Source: Bespoke Investment Group

Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance.

Read more from Myles here; follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland