WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reaching new record intraday highs. The Dow has also moved to the upside after yesterday's dip, climbing back above 50,000.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 358.32 points or 0.7 percent at 50,051.52, the Nasdaq is up 239.62 points or 0.9 percent at 26,641.96 and the S&P 500 is up 56.60 points or 0.8 percent at 7,500.85.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) has helped lead the markets higher, with the San Jose-based technology giant soaring by 14.7 percent to a record intraday high.
The spike by Cisco comes after the company reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results and provided upbeat guidance. Cisco also revealed plans to cut nearly 4,000 jobs.
Market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) is also surging by 4 percent after a report from Reuters said the U.S. has cleared around 10 Chinese firms to buy the company's second-most powerful AI chip, the H200.
The report comes amid a closely watched summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.
After a nearly two-hour long high-stakes meeting at the Great Hall of the People, Trump described the talks as 'great.'
The White House said, 'The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy.'
A statement issued by China's foreign ministry said the two leaders agreed to a 'constructive strategic stable relationship' as the new orientation for bilateral relations over the next three years and beyond.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed retail sales in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of April.
The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.5 percent in April after jumping by a downwardly revised 1.6 percent in March. Economists had expected retail sales to grow by 0.5 percent.
Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales increased by 0.7 percent in April after surging by 1.9 percent in March. Ex-auto sales were expected to increase by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a separate report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended May 9th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 211,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 199,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 205,000.
Sector News
With Cisco leading the way higher, networking stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 2.8 percent to a record intraday high.
Significant strength is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent jump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Software, airline and financial stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, while gold stocks have moved sharply lower amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.5 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 1 percent, while South Korea's Kospi jumped by 1.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are regaining ground after trending lower over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.2 basis points at 4.449 percent.
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