S&P 500 climbs to a record
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose to a record Thursday as Wall Street regained some of the momentum that catapulted it to 57 all-time highs last year.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to surpass its record set early last month after coming close the day before. It was the seventh gain in eight days for the main measure of Wall Street’s health. The Dow Jones Industrial Average piled on 408 points, or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.
The gains came amid relatively calm moves for Treasury yields in the U.S. bond market. Big swings there in recent months have been shaking the stock market, particularly when rising worries about inflation and the U.S. government’s heavy debt send Treasury yields higher.
Treasury yields took a brief turn upward after President Donald Trump began talking about the prospect of tariffs in a speech by video at the World Economic Forum, saying products made outside of the United States will be subject to a tariff, but they pulled back after he gave few details. Crude prices also sank after Trump called on oil-producing countries to reduce the price of crude, which would ease worries about inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.64% from 4.61% late Wednesday, though it remains below its high from earlier this month. The two-year Treasury yield eased to 4.29% from 4.30% late Wednesday.
Yields earlier in the day had held relatively steady after a report showed slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. While the numbers increased, “they were well within the modest range established in recent months,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. “Employment continues to highlight US economic outperformance.”
Traders don’t expect the report to push the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate at its upcoming meeting next week, according to data from CME Group. If they’re correct, it would be the first meeting since September where the Fed hasn’t lowered the federal funds rate to take pressure off the U.S. economy. Lower rates can goose prices for investments, but they can also give inflation more fuel.
On Wall Street, GE Aerospace flew 6.6% higher after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, which split off from General Electric with two other companies last year, said orders for its airplane engines and services jumped 50% from a year earlier to $12.9 billion.