NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising toward more records on Thursday as financial markets around the world rally again.
The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in early trading and on track to set an all-time high for the third time this week and the 42nd time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flirting with its own record and up 253 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.
Tech stocks led the way, as they’ve been doing for years. Micron Technology jumped 16.1% after the maker of computer memory and storage delivered stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, thanks in part to demand related to artificial-intelligence technology. The AI boom has been helping drive some stocks to astounding heights, and Micron gave forecasts for profit and revenue in its upcoming fiscal year that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
Jabil Circuit climbed 9.3% after the electronics manufacturer likewise reported stronger profit and revenue than expected. It also announced a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock to plow cash to its shareholders.
Markets were even more jubilant overseas on hopes for more moves by China to prop up the world’s second-largest economy. The country’s powerful Politburo called on Thursday for intensified efforts as China tries to meet its economic targets, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
That follows a raft of announcements earlier in the week by the country’s central bank that had also sent global markets jumping. China’s economic growth has been flagging, with particular troubles in its property sector.
In the United States, meanwhile, more encouraging news came after a round of reports Thursday suggested the world’s largest economy may be doing better than expected.
Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, the latest signal that layoffs remain relatively low across the economy. A separate report said the overall U.S. economy grew at a 3% annual rate during the spring, as previously estimated. That’s a solid rate.
The hope on Wall Street is for a form of financial nirvana where the U.S. economy can hold steady while the Federal Reserve continues to lower interest rates.
The Fed last week made a drastic turn in how it sets interest rates. It’s now lowering rates to make things easier for the U.S. economy after keeping them high for years in hopes of extinguishing high inflation. Wall Steet loves lower rates because they ease conditions for the economy by making it easier to borrow money to buy a house, a car or things on credit cards. Lower rates can also give boosts to prices for all kinds of investments.
The fear is that the job market could weaken further as the cumulative effects of all the past hikes to interest rates made by the Federal Reserve show themselves. The Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for more than a year in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stifle inflation. And while layoffs remain low, U.S. employers have also been slowing their hiring.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 3.78% from 3.79% late Wednesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.58% from 3.56%.
In stock markets abroad, jumps of 4.2% in Hong Kong and 3.6% in Shanghai led the way. Indexes also climbed 2.8% in Japan, 2% in France and 1.7% in Germany.
South Korean stocks jumped 2.9%, led by semiconductor maker SK Hynix, which launched production of a new memory chip for artificial intelligence.
Among the few losers in financial markets globally was the price of oil. Crude fell after The Financial Times reported through sources that Saudi Arabia is preparing to abandon its unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude as it prepares to increase output.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 3.8% to $67.01. Brent crude, the international standard, sank 3.1% to $70.65 per barrel.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
