NEW YORK — On Thursday, U.S. stocks were hovering around record levels on a relatively calm day for Wall Street.
The S&P 500 saw a slight increase of 0.2% during midday trading, positioning itself to potentially surpass its previous all-time high set earlier in the month after coming in close just the day before.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reported a gain of 236 points, or 0.2%, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite experienced a minor dip of 0.2%.
Global markets also reflected a lack of major movement, even following China’s latest efforts to bolster stock prices in its economy.
Although stocks in Hong Kong initially received a boost from China’s directive for pensions and mutual funds to increase their investments in domestic stocks, the Hang Seng index ultimately closed 0.4% down.
These subdued market movements coincided with mixed Treasury yields within the U.S. bond market.
Recent fluctuations in yields have exerted pressure on the stock market, particularly amid rising concerns regarding inflation and the U.S. government’s substantial debt, which have contributed to increased Treasury yields.
However, bond investors seemed to take the latest economic report in stride, which revealed a slight uptick in unemployment benefit applications last week, surpassing economists’ expectations, but remaining within a modest range overall, as noted by Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Larkin emphasized that employment continues to depict the U.S. economy’s resilience.
Traders appear to believe this report will not influence the Federal Reserve to lower its main interest rate at the upcoming meeting next week, according to data from CME Group.
If this prediction holds true, it would mark the first occasion the Fed has maintained the federal funds rate after initiating cuts in September to alleviate pressures on the economy.
While lower interest rates typically bolster investment prices, they also run the risk of fuelling inflation.
There was also a brief uptick in Treasury yields after President Donald Trump discussed potential tariffs at the World Economic Forum, but yields soon settled back as he provided few specifics on the topic.
Global concerns linger regarding the potential disruption to international trade stemming from Trump’s proposed heavy tariffs against various trade partners.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.63% from 4.61% late Wednesday, remaining below earlier highs for the month.
Meanwhile, the two-year Treasury yield, which closely aligns with Fed action expectations, eased to 4.28% from 4.30%.
On the stock market front, GE Aerospace experienced a notable surge of 6.8% after reporting unexpectedly strong quarterly profits.
The company, which spun off from General Electric along with two other entities last year, announced a significant increase in orders for its aircraft engines and services, which jumped 50% year-over-year to reach $12.9 billion.
Netflix also contributed positively to the S&P 500, climbing by an additional 2.4% following a robust profit report that had already propelled its stock up by 9.7% the previous day.
Conversely, American Airlines faced a 7.9% decline despite reporting better-than-expected profits and revenues for the most recent quarter.
The airline projected a larger loss for the first quarter of 2025 than previously anticipated and provided profit forecasts for the year that fell below analysts’ expectations.
Video game developer Electronic Arts suffered an 18.2% drop after issuing warnings about revenue slowdowns tied to its EA Sports FC25 game and reporting a decrease in players for its Dragon Age game, further impacting revenue.
In international markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.8%, notwithstanding a significant drop for Fuji Media Holdings following the retirement announcement of Masahiro Nakai, a prominent TV host, amid sexual assault allegations impacting Japan’s entertainment sector.
This scandal has triggered substantial advertising losses for the network where Nakai was employed.
In the cryptocurrency arena, where prices have increased on the back of optimism that President Trump could create a more favorable regulatory environment, Bitcoin’s value was observed just under $105,000, after having reached a record high exceeding $109,000 on Monday.
