US: Stocks rise, S&P 500 ends just shy of record

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks rose on Thursday with tech equities leading, after the White House signalled President Donald Trump could extend a July tariff deadline.

The shift shows “unexpected flexibility from the US president,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low, who also attributed some of the market’s strength to some strong economic indicators.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.8 per cent to 6,141.02, about three points shy of an all-time record.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9 per cent to 43,386.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.0 per cent to 20,167.91.

The latest Trump indications on trade talks followed solid earnings from chip company Micron that helped add to the market’s gains this week following the Iran-Israel ceasefire.

While Micron itself finished lower, large tech names such as Google parent Alphabet, Netflix and artificial intelligence player Nvidia advanced.

Data released on Thursday meanwhile showed the US economy decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent in the first quarter, a bigger fall than in the previous GDP estimate.

But on the positive side, US durable goods orders for May topped estimates while labour market data was mixed.

Markets are looking ahead to key US inflation data on Friday, expected to guide future Federal Reserve decisions.

Among individual companies, McCormick & Company shot up 5.3 per cent with analysts pointing to a strong performance in its consumer business due to more dining at home. AFP