U.S. stock market indices rose to new highs on Thursday in strong earnings reports and improved economic data.
The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8%, or about 260 points, putting both indices at a record-breaking pace. The Nasdaq Composite, very heavy on technology, advanced 1%.
A strong concentration has pushed the shares to repeated highs in 2021 and many investors believe the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and abundant government spending suggest that stocks have room to continue to rise. The S&P 500 and Dow are up about 11% year-over-year.
Investors will monitor earnings reports in the coming weeks as they assess how the corporate earnings outlook aligns with rising stock prices. Analysts expect earnings among S&P 500 companies to increase 29% in the first quarter of the same period last year, according to FactSet.
“There will be high expectations this quarter, but we still believe there will be a significant number of companies exceeding these estimates,” said Chad Oviatt, director of investment management at Huntington Private Bank.