Stock market today: S&P 500 climbs to a record
U.S. stocks rose to a record as Wall Street regained some of the momentum that catapulted it to 57 all-time highs last year
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
Netflix was another one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. It rose another 3.2% after jumping 9.7% the day before following a better-than-expected profit report.
Union Pacific chugged 5.2% higher after beating analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. The railroad said its workforce was more productive during the quarter, and its fuel consumption rate likewise improved.
American Airlines lost 8.7% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it may report a bigger loss for the first three months of 2025 than analysts expected. American also gave a forecasted range for profit over the full year whose midpoint fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Video game maker Electronic Arts dropped 16.7% after it warned of a slowdown in revenue related to its soccer game, EA Sports FC25. It also said fewer gamers played its Dragon Age game during the latest quarter than it expected, further cutting into its revenue.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.34 points to 6,118.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 408.34 to 44,565.07, and the Nasdaq composite added 44.34 to 20,053.68.
In stock markets abroad, movements were mostly quiet, even after China’s latest attempt to juice stock prices in the world’s second-largest economy. Stocks in Hong Kong got a brief boost from China’s ordering of pensions and mutual funds to invest more in domestic stocks, for example, but the Hang Seng index ended with a dip of 0.4%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% despite a sharp drop for Fuji Media Holdings after Masahiro Nakai, a top TV host and former pop star, said he was retiring to take responsibility over sexual assault allegations that are part of a wave roiling Japan’s entertainment industry. The Fuji TV scandal triggered an avalanche of lost advertising at one of the networks where he worked.
In the cryptocurrency market, where prices have surged on hopes President Donald Trump will make Washington friendlier to the industry, bitcoin fell below $103,000, according to CoinDesk. It had set a record above $109,000 on Monday.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
