The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit fresh intraday record highs on Thursday, boosted by gains in chip giant Nvidia, while investors assessed economic data and monitored developments around the high-stakes U.S.-China summit.
Nvidia (NVDA.O), rose 3%, giving the chipmaker a market valuation of about $5.6 trillion, after Reuters reported citing sources that the U.S. has cleared about 10 Chinese firms to buy its second-most powerful AI chip, the H200.
Meanwhile, Cisco (CSCO.O), soared 14.7% to an all-time high after the tech networking giant said it would cut nearly 4,000 jobs as part of a restructuring, and raised its annual revenue forecast after a surge in hyperscaler orders.
A steady rally in technology stocks in recent weeks, particularly chipmakers, has pushed U.S. stocks to new highs even though concerns remain about the Middle East conflict and higher inflation due to surging oil prices.
U.S. retail sales increased 0.5% in April, in line with estimates, but some of the rise in receipts was likely due to higher inflation as the war with Iran boosted prices of energy products and other commodities.
“Consumers aren’t in a recession, but they’re not powering the economy either. Higher inflation, tariffs and demographic changes have taken a toll on retail spending as a growth driver,” said David Russell, Global Head of Market Strategy at TradeStation.
“Today’s retail numbers don’t ring any alarm bells at the Fed, so they keep an upward bias on interest rates. The consumer is strong enough to rule out rate cuts.”
Additionally, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week, pointing to a stable labor market.
At 09:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), rose 270.32 points, or 0.54%, to 49,963.52, the S&P 500 (.SPX), gained 28.32 points, or 0.38%, to 7,472.57 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), gained 92.85 points, or 0.35%, to 26,495.19.
Traders are now pricing in more than a 28% chance of a quarter-point rate hike by the end of the year, up from 20.7% a week earlier, per CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 50 new highs and 75 new lows.
