S&P Inches Toward All-Time High
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The S&P 500 rose to within a whisker of a new record Thursday, the culmination of a stunning comeback from lows set in April as the benchmark overcame a wall of worries that included tariff fights, wars and sticky inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 404.41 points to 43,386.84.
The much-broader index took on 48.86 points to close Thursday at 6,141.02.
The NASDAQ Composite tacked on 194.36 points to 20,167.91.
The S&P 500 is nearing its closing all-time high of 6,144.15.
Stocks rose to their highs of the session after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt played down the July tariff deal deadlines that have been looming over markets.
“The deadline is not critical,” said Leavitt. “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”
July 8 is when the so-called “liberation day” tariffs are set to take effect after a 90-day pause and July 9 is the deadline for an EU deal to avoid 50% tariffs.
Leavitt’s comments further validated a main reason behind the surprising comeback from the market’s low in April: That President Donald Trump would never actually implement those super-sized tariffs that he announced in April and eventually pushed off after they sent the markets reeling.
Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 21 pulled back to 236,000, which was below the 244,000-job consensus estimate. The data is indicative of a still-strong economy that seems to be holding up.
Tensions in the Middle East seemed to ease after Trump said Tuesday that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was in effect. Though the president accused both countries of violating the agreement, saying he’s “not happy” with either of them, the deal has since appeared to hold. The U.S. is planning to meet with Iran next week.
Tech giants helped lift the broad market index on Thursday as they have during the comeback, with AI play Nvidia rising 1% to touch a fresh all-time high. Shares of Meta Platforms added more than 2%, while Alphabet climbed 1.2%.
Prices for the 10-year treasury moved higher, lowering yields to 4.24% from Wednesday’s 4.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices came earthward 47 cents to $65.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices nosed ahead 70 cents to $3,343.80 U.S. an ounce.
