Thursday’s early trade: S&P scales new record high

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 hit a record peak on Thursday, helped by gains in tech-related stocks as weaker-than-expected jobless claims data bolstered the Federal Reserve’s stance to keep interest rates lower for a longer period.

Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Corp and Amazon.com Inc rose between 1% and 1.5% and were among the top boosts to the benchmark index.

High-growth tech stocks have recovered in recent sessions as US 10-year bond yield backed off from its 14-month peak, pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq to a seven-week high and within 2% of its record closing high.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak at a virtual International Monetary Fund event at 1200 ET (1600 GMT).

The Russell 1000 growth index, which consists of tech-related stocks, gained about 1%, while its value counterpart, comprising mostly financials and energy names, dropped about 0.3%.

At 11:31 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.04 points, or 0.00%, to 33,447.30, the S&P 500 gained 13.09 points, or 0.32 %, to 4,093.04 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 117.70 points, or 0.86%, to 13,806.54.