NEW YORK: The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq touched intraday record highs on Thursday as optimism surrounding a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon buoyed sentiment, reassuring investors that the worst of the Middle East conflict had passed.
US President Donald Trump said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, potentially removing a key obstacle to a broader peace agreement in the region.
“Seasoned investors understand that markets as a whole do not wait for certainty. The market is walking away from worst-case scenarios and rightfully so,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.
At 11:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.41 points, or 0.06 percent, to 48,494.13, the S&P 500 gained 19.26 points, or 0.27 percent, to 7,041.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 90.38 points, or 0.38 percent, to 24,106.40.
“When momentum rules, fundamentals are optional. Investors have decided that the worst of the conflict is behind us, if not completely solved,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.
While hopes of diplomatic progress have lifted sentiment this week, some say more concrete evidence of peace may be needed to sustain the momentum.
Despite the gains, the fragility of the rally was evident earlier on Thursday, when the indexes briefly slipped into negative territory, underscoring a market caught between optimism over the ceasefire and caution that prices may have risen too far.
“It is difficult to discern why investors are so optimistic,” said Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp.
“The economic data does not really justify the high degree of enthusiasm.”
Market moves could also become more idiosyncratic as the earnings season gathers pace. US beverages giant PepsiCo gained 2 percent after beating quarterly profit estimates.
Abbott declined 4.3 percent, to its lowest level since November 2023 after cutting its full-year profit forecast, while Charles Schwab and Travelers fell 5.3 percent and nearly 1 percent respectively after their results.
Netflix is also due to report after the markets close. Its shares were 0.6 percent higher.
Software stocks and energy shares rose 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Other big movers included Myseum, which more than doubled after rebranding as Myseum.AI.
The rally came a day after a similar move by sneaker maker Allbirds and was reminiscent of last year’s wave of companies pivoting to crypto treasury strategies, which sparked a buying frenzy in their shares.
Voyager Technologies rose 5.2 percent after NASA signed an order for the company to conduct the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, the company’s first selection for such a mission.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. There were 182 new highs and 29 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 89 new highs and 32 new lows.
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