Wall St Extends Rally As Nvidia Gains; US-China Talks, Data In Focus

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.

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