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(Reuters) – The Dow hit a record high on Thursday while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hovered near all-time highs as investors bet on more fiscal stimulus to ride out a coronavirus-driven recession with data showing a stalling recovery in the labor market.
Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) jumped about 4% after the credit-card giant said it was planning to offer support for some cryptocurrencies on its network this year, joining a string of big-ticket firms that have pledged similar support.
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) said it had formed a new unit to help clients hold, transfer and issue digital assets, sending Bitcoin up over 8% to an all-time high of $48,481.
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits were 793,000 last week, compared to 812,000 in the prior week, but they are well below the record 6.867 million reported last March when the pandemic hit the United States.
Wall Street’s main indexes had hit record highs recently on prospects of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to jumpstart the economy with a largely better-than-expected earnings season also helping the sentiment.
Analysts now expect fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 firms to grow 2.8%, versus forecast of a 10.3% drop at the beginning of January, per Refinitiv data.
“There is room for the market to take a breather but usually there is some sort of catalyst that gets that going,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.
“And right now the news isn’t providing you that – fiscal stimulus, monetary stimulus, coronavirus information and earnings are all pretty positive.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reassured investors on Wednesday that interest rates will remain low for some time to spur the economy and jobs growth, but provided no new insights on monetary policy.
At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.67 points, or 0.04%, to 31,450.47, the S&P 500 gained 7.62 points, or 0.18%, to 3,917.50 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 50.48 points, or 0.36%, to 14,023.02.
Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Inc rose 7.1% after a report said Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) approached the image-sharing company in recent months about a potential buyout. The negotiations were, however, currently not active, according to the report.
U.S.-listed shares of cannabis companies including Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) and Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA) reversed premarket gains to drop sharply after the sector caught the attention of Reddit-inspired retail investors this week.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co edged 0.2% lower ahead of its results after market close.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.8-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 264 new highs and six new lows.
