Stock Rally Stalls As S&p 500 Pulls Back After Inching Toward Record Highs

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 9, 2020.

Bryan R Smith

• The rally in US stocks stalled on Thursday after the S&P 500 approached record highs.
• Trump's deregulation plans and a big AI investment announcement helped boost stock prices this week.
• Investors are focused on fourth-quarter earnings and an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.

The rally in US stocks stalled out on Thursday, with stocks trading mixed and the S&P 500 dipping after it approached record highs in the first week of Donald Trump's presidency.

Trump's plans to usher in a wave of deregulation have helped boost "animal spirits" on Wall Street, pushing stock prices higher.

A $500 billion investment announcement for AI infrastructure has also juiced technology stocks this week, but the Nasdaq 100 gave up some of those gains and declined by about half of a percent in Thursday's trading session.

Investors digested initial jobless claims on Thursday, which ticked up slightly higher from the previous week's reading to 223,000 from 217,000. That was slightly higher than economist estimates of 221,000.

But top of mind for investors this week and for the coming weeks are fourth-quarter earnings results.

With 14% of S&P 500 companies having reported results so far, 78% are beating profit estimates by a median of 6%, according to data from Fundstrat.

The big earnings show will begin next week, when mega-cap tech companies, including Apple, Meta Platforms, and Tesla set to report results.

Investors are also bracing for the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week. While markets expect the central bank to leave rates unchanged, commentary from Fed officials could move markets if they indicate any change in the path of interest rates relative to what markets are pricing in for this year.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 6,082.96, down 0.06%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 44,251.01, up 0.2% (+85.19 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 19,933.34, down 0.4%

Here's what else is going on:

• 5 market charts explain Donald Trump's presidency so far.
• Here's how to navigate what could be the most confusing earnings season in a long time.
• Sell-off risk looms over crypto amid lack of policy announcements from Trump.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil was higher by 0.05% to $75.48 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.10%, at $79.08 a barrel.
• Gold declined 0.75% to $2,750.00 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield jumped 5 basis points to 4.665%.
• Bitcoin declined 1.07% to $102,556.