U.S. stocks drifted around their record heights Thursday following the latest signals that the U.S. economy continues to hum.
The S&P 500 finished virtually unchanged after flirting with its all-time high for much of the day. The Dow Jones industrial average added 161 points, or 0.4%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite was close to flat.
Nvidia and other companies in the chip industry were some of the market’s strongest after global heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. TSMC jumped 9.8%.
Nvidia’s gain of 0.9% was Thursday’s strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
But a 1.4% slide for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and a 10.6% tumble for Elevance Health helped keep stock indexes in check.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose following the latest encouraging reports on the U.S. economy.
U.S. retailers made more in sales in September than in August, and underlying growth trends within the data were better than economists expected.
A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, a signal that layoffs nationwide are relatively low and aren’t damaging the job market.
On Wall Street, insurer Travelers was the biggest reason for the Dow’s setting another record. It jumped 9% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Blackstone also pushed upward on indexes after the investor in real estate, hedge funds and other alternative investments reported stronger profit than expected. It climbed 6.3%.
CSX fell 6.7% after falling short of analysts’ profit expectations for the latest quarter.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 1.00, or less than 0.1%, to 5,841.47. The Dow gained 161.35 points, or 0.4%, to 43,239.05, and the Nasdaq composite added 6.53, or less than 0.1%, to 18,373.61.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.09% from 4.02% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for action by the Fed, rose to 3.98% from 3.94%.
— Associated Press