The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted record closing highs on Thursday.

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted record closing highs on Thursday after news reports said the US and Iran had reached a draft agreement to extend their ceasefire for 60 days, while investors also digested key inflation data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was subdued during the session, eked out small gains in afternoon trade to finish at another closing high. The agreement still needs US President Donald Trump's approval, sources told Reuters. Iran's Tasnim news agency, meanwhile, said the text of a potential memorandum of understanding with the US has not yet been finalised or confirmed. "Traders are on a hair trigger with the back-and-forth on deal news, and have been leaning long to avoid getting trampled by a better-than-expected outcome. The harder part is that the inflationary forces may not abate as fast as markets want," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. Economic data showed US inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, driven by higher energy prices amid the Iran war. Meanwhile, US GDP for the first quarter was revised lower to a 1.6% annualised increase, with momentum expected to slow this quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.69 points, or 0.05%, to 50,668.97, the S&P 500 gained 43.27 points, or 0.58%, to 7,563.63 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 242.74 points, or 0.91%, to 26,917.47. The S&P 500 healthcare index posted strong gains. Eli Lilly advanced 4% after CVS Health said it would restore the drugmaker's weight-loss injection, Zepbound, to its coverage and add its newly approved obesity pill Foundayo. Tech shares also moved higher. Microsoft gained 3.5% after news website the Information reported that the company would release a new coding model next week. Marvell Technology rose 3% after UBS raised its target price to US$230 from US$195. The company's shares have more than doubled so far this year. Snowflake shares soared 36% after the data analytics firm lifted its annual product revenue forecast and announced a five-year AI infrastructure deal worth $6 billion with Amazon Web Services. Peers Datadog and MongoDB also climbed. Renewed confidence in AI and earnings growth momentum have underscored the recent rally despite the Middle East tensions, which have increased inflationary expectations. "Markets continue to look through these risks because the global economy and corporate earnings remain relatively resilient," said Jitania Kandhari, deputy CIO, solutions and multi-assets, at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. "Geopolitical instability could ultimately accelerate spending in areas tied to AI, including cybersecurity, defense technology, energy infrastructure and supply-chain resiliency, reinforcing the long-term investment case." While the S&P 500 is trading at roughly 21 to 22 times forward earnings versus a trailing 10-year average of 19.7 times, investors are less concerned because earnings expectations are rising faster than stock prices, Kandhari said. Among other movers, Dollar Tree climbed almost 18% after the discount retailer lifted its full-year profit forecast, while Best Buy also rose 15.8% after the electronics vendor forecast second-quarter sales above estimates. Drone companies rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was in talks to fund drone firms. Shares of Unusual Machines surged almost 11%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange. There were 526 new highs and 99 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 3,114 stocks rose and 1,728 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.8-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 127 new highs and 65 new lows. Volume on US exchanges was 19.2 billion shares, compared with the 19.03 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. — Reuters

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