Stock Market Today: S&P 500 rides rally in energy to close at record high
Investing.com — The S&P 500 closed at a record high Thursday, as a jump in energy led the broader market rally and boosted sentiment after economic data showed possible signs of weakness in the consumer.
At 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the S&P 500 futures contract rose 0.5% to a closing record of 5,031.02. The Dow futures climbed 249 points or 0.9%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.30%.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) rose nearly 5% to push the broader energy sector higher after Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) revealed late Wednesday it had raised it stake in the oil major by about 9% in Q4.
Occidental Petroleum also reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates following better-than-expected production.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.8% last month. That was a steeper than the 0.2% decline economists had expected and was largely driven by a drop in receipts at auto dealerships and gas stations.
«The retail sales report this month supports our view that the economy is strong but cooling,» Morgan Stanley said in a Wednesday note, adding that it expects a first rate cut in June.
Still, the labor market continued to show signs of strength as initial jobless claims decreased by 8,000 to 212,000 in the week ended Feb 10, beating forecasts of a 1,000 decline, signaling that the labor market continues to show strength.
Treasury yields were off the high of the day, with the the rate-sensitive 2-year U.S. Treasury yield, which trade inversely to bond prices, were off the highs of the day trading at 4.576%.
Following the data, Goldman Sachs cut its outlook on U.S. Q1 economic to 2.5% from a prior estimate of 2.9%.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), down 2%,
Read more on investing.com
