NEW YORK: The benchmark S&P 500 rose to a near all-time high on Thursday, as investors assessed a mixed bag of corporate earnings and comments from President Donald Trump that offered little clarity on his highly anticipated trade policies.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump told business leaders that he is working to reverse inflation, lower taxes and boost fossil fuels production in the U.S, but did not elaborate on his proposed tariffs.
Uncertainty about Trump’s trade plans has dominated the market’s mood as the president said earlier in the week that tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union could be announced on Feb. 1. Analysts, however, widely expect April 1 to be the date when major plans will be unveiled.
Tariff imposition could threaten a global trade war, add fuel to price pressures and slow down the Federal Reserve’s pace of monetary policy easing. Traders expect the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged for the first half of 2025, according to data compiled by LSEG.
“It would be nice to have him say something to the effect of, tariffs are going to be used as a tool to try as part of negotiation tactics,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management.
Yields on longer-dated Treasury bonds were steady after ticking up earlier in the day.
At 11:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 253.34 points, or 0.58%, to 44,411.02, the S&P 500 gained 8.71 points, or 0.14%, to 6,094.99 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 38.86 points, or 0.19%, to 19,970.48.
Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, with utilities up 0.7%. Energy stocks gave up early gains and were flat as crude prices dipped after Trump’s comments.
The S&P 500 Banks index rose 0.7% to touch a record high.
Investors were also taking a pause after the S&P 500 and the Dow logged their sixth session of gains out of seven in the previous session, with the benchmark index notching an intraday record high for the first time in over a month.
Trump’s private-sector $500 billion investment announcement in AI infrastructure, along with Netflix’s strong results, provided the latest tailwind for markets, which had been recovering since last week after data showed underlying inflation was cooling despite robust economic activity.
Following previous session’s strong gains, artificial intelligence darlings Nvidia dropped 0.7% and Microsoft dipped 0.5%.
On the economic data front, a Labor Department report showed weekly jobless claims stood at 223,000, compared with expectations of 220,000.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 88 new lows.
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