Stocks overcame a midday stumble on Wall Street to close broadly higher Thursday, driving the S&P 500 to another record high.
The benchmark index rose 0.7% after having been down 0.2% earlier. Communications companied helped power a big part of the gain, led by a sharp rise in Facebook following the company’s latest quarterly report card. Banks also helped lead the rally, outweighing a pullback in health care and technology stocks. Treasury yields were mixed.
Investors weighed the latest batch of company earnings reports and encouraging economic data.
A report showing that the U.S. economy grew sharply in the first quarter is among the latest data pointing to an economic recovery from the recession brought on by the pandemic. Other upbeat reports included data showing that more Americans were signing contracts to buy homes in March after two months of declines.
“We’re experiencing a strong economic recovery that’s translating into a strong corporate earnings environment,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
The S&P 500 index rose 28.29 points to 4,211.47. The index also hit an all-time high on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 239.98 points, or 0.7%, to 34,060.36, while the Nasdaq gained 31.52 points, or 0.2%, to 14,082.55. Both indexes had also been in the red earlier in the day.
Smaller company stocks, which have been outperforming the broader market this year, gave back some of their recent gains. The Russell 2000 index lost 8.70 points, or 0.4%, to 2,295.46.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, massive support from the U.S. government and the Fed, and increasingly positive economic data have been driving expectations for a strong rebound for the economy and robust corporate profit growth this year. That’s helped stocks push higher and kept indexes near their all-time highs.
Still, some of the big risks to the market include rising inflation getting out of hand and any aspect of the virus pandemic worsening and throwing off the economic recovery, said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.