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Stocks rose on Thursday to fresh record highs after Morgan Stanley reported quarterly figures that easily topped analyst expectations while investors digested solid data on the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials spiked 207 points to 29,237.22
The S&P 500 gained 27.52 points to 3,307.57, smashing the 3,300 level for the first time.
The NASDAQ leaped 98.44 points, or 1.1%, to 9,357.13, as Microsoft hit record levels while Google-parent Alphabet’s market cap topped $1 trillion for the first time.
Morgan Stanley’s three main businesses — investment management, wealth management and trading — all produced more revenue than expected in the previous quarter. The company’s stock jumped 6.5%.
So far, the earnings season is off to a solid start. Around 7% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far. Of those companies, 76.5% have posted better-than-expected expectations.
Expectations about the earnings season were muted prior to this week. Analysts expected S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 2% in the fourth quarter
Strong economic data also lifted sentiment on Wall Street. Weekly jobless claims unexpectedly dropped by 10,000 to 204,000. Economists expected a print of 216,000. Meanwhile, retail sales climbed by 0.3% in December, matching expectations.
Stocks closed well off their session highs on Wednesday after President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed a “phase-one” trade deal in Washington, D.C. Under the agreement, China is set to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods over the next two years.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.81% from Wednesday’s 1.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 67 cents to $58.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped 30 cents to $1,553.70 U.S. an ounce.
