The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose modestly to record closing highs for a second straight day on Thursday on optimism that the worst of the Middle East conflict had passed after Israel agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Lebanon and the White House indicated the U.S. and Iran could meet again on the weekend. Trading was choppy, however, after the President announced the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and told reporters Iran had offered not to have nuclear weapons for more than 20 years. Earlier in the day, Bloomberg cited Gulf and European officials saying the U.S. needs about six months to reach an Iran deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI .DJI rose 115.00 points, or 0.24%, to 48,578.72, the S&P 500 .SPX .SPX gained 18.33 points, or 0.26%, to 7,041.28, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC .IXIC gained 86.69 points, or 0.36%, to 24,102.70. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touched intraday records on Thursday. Nasdaq’s gain represented its 12th consecutive advance, its longest winning streak since July 2009 after the global financial crisis. Most of the S&P 500’s 11 major sector indexes gained. Healthcare .SPXHC .SPXHC was the biggest loser, finishing down 0.8%, while the biggest gainer was energy .SPNY .SPNY , which rose 1.6% as oil prices climbed.
Investors were also reacting to corporate earnings during the first week of the first-quarter reporting season. U.S. beverages company PepsiCo PEP.O PEP.O finished up 2.3% after beating quarterly profit estimates. Medical device maker Abbott ABT.N ABT.N slumped 6% and hit its lowest level since November 2023 after cutting its full-year profit forecast. The S&P 500’s biggest decline on the day came from brokerage Charles SchwabSCHW.N SCHW.N , which tumbled 7.6% after releasing results.
After finishing the regular session flat, Netflix NFLX.O NFLX.O shares fell 8% in late trading after it reported quarterly results. The streaming company kept its 2026 revenue forecast unchanged and also announced that co-founder Reed Hastings would exit the company in June. Big movers included Myseum MYSE.O MYSE.O , which rose 129% to finish at $3.30 after it rebranded as Myseum.AI. Its rally followed even more dramatic gains in sneaker maker AllbirdsBIRD.O BIRD.O on Wednesday after it said it was pivoting to AI.
Voyager Technologies VOYG.N VOYG.N rose 8.8% after NASA signed an order for the company to conduct the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, the company’s first selection for such a mission.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 351 new highs and 40 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,516 stocks rose and 2,231 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.13-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 129 new highs and 39 new lows. On U.S. exchanges, 18.22 billion shares changed hands compared with the 19.11 billion moving average for the last 20 sessions.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in New York, Noel Randewich in San Francisco, Niket Nishant and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Saqib Ahmed in New York; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Rod Nickel.
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