On Thursday, the S&P 500 surged to its first-ever close above the 4,000 mark as tech stocks gained in value following an upbeat outlook for the US economy.
Thus, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia added more than 2%, pleasing investors with positive dynamics after a long-term downward trend. Google-parent Alphabet's shares edged up 3.3% to its highest close ever.
The stocks of Micron Technology Inc, a US transnational corporation, rose by 4.8% amid the company's third-quarter revenue forecast. Thus, it is above Wall Street analysts' estimates due to higher demand for memory chips.
Meanwhile, the shares of another chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor jumped by 5.5% after company officials announced their intention to spend $100 billion expanding its manufacturing capacity to meet rising chip demand.
As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.52% to 33,153.21 points, the S&P 500 soared by 1.18% to a record 4,019.87 points, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.76% to end at 13,480.11.
The downbeat statistics on unemployment from the United States did not prevent US major indices from growing. Thus, the markets ignored the data on unemployment claims in the country which increased by 61,000 to 719,000 over the past week. At the same time, analysts expected claims for unemployment benefits to rise only to 680,000.
Such an increase in unemployment turned out to the highest since January this year when the indicator had soared to 123,000. At the same time, the four-week average fell. That is why market participants perceived the latest labor market data as just temporary difficulties.
Thursday's rally in US stock indices was contributed by the news on another stimulus package to aid the US economy. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden introduced a new $2 trillion plan following the recently adopted $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. According to the US President, the new plan will help overhaul and upgrade the country's infrastructure and industry. Biden intends to annually invest up to 1% of GDP in infrastructure through increased taxes on corporations over fifteen years.
As for the short-term forecasts of the US stock market performance, analysts are bullish for this year. Experts attribute such dynamics of the markets to the government's fiscal stimulus measures, support from the Federal Reserve, a confident recovery in the US economy, as well as high rates of vaccination.
