New record for stocks: S&P 500 closes above 4,000 for first time
Stocks closed at a record high on Thursday, boosted by a rise in share prices for big technology companies as well as smaller companies that would benefit from a quickly growing economy.
The market's march into April pushed the S&P 500-stock index past the 4,000-point mark for the first time, to 4,020. The key market benchmark is coming off its fourth straight quarterly gain for as of March 31.
The Dow rose 172 points, or 0.5%, to 33,153, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.8%. The Russell 2000 index of small companies was up 1.5%. It's a holiday-shortened week for the stock market. The stock exchanges will be closed in observance of Good Friday. Bond trading will be open for half a day, closing at noon Eastern time.
Technology stocks were benefiting from another drop in bond yields, which have been the driving force for the market for several weeks. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.68% from 1.73% the day before. Higher bond yields make stocks seem more expensive by comparison, and tech stocks are among the most expensive after their significant rise last year. Microsoft rose 2.8% and Facebook gained 1.4%.
Investors also continue to monitor news about how well the U.S. economy is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, now that millions of vaccines are being administered daily to Americans as well as around the world. Consumer sentiment has been improving along with construction spending and other measures. The improving economy is prompting investors to shift more money into companies and sectors that will benefit from people getting back to some semblance of a pre-pandemic normal.
The market has been churning while dealing with that shift as beaten-down sectors like airlines and industrial companies start to recover.
"In a way, the churn has reflected health, because more sectors are participating in the moves," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.
While investors are optimistic that things will recover soon, there's still a lot of economic pain to go around.
The Labor Department said the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits last week rose to 719,000 last week from 658,000 the previous week. That figure was expected to decline. The government will report additional employment data on Friday.
"The employment market is going to be the thing to watch," Mayfield said. "We're kind of in a transition period and at some point we're going to need to see improvement there."