Wall Street entered full rally mode on Thursday, with the Nasdaq 100 extending its record-setting climb and the S&P 500 approaching its February peak, as easing geopolitical fears and renewed hopes for a dovish Federal Reserve lifted investor sentiment.
By midday in New York, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% to 6,136, just nine points shy of its all-time high of 6,145. The Nasdaq 100 rose another 0.7% to 22,400, marking yet another intraday record.
Meanwhile, small caps surged, with the Russell 2000 jumping 1%, outperforming the broader market.
On the macro front, the first-quarter GDP was revised downward to -0.5% from the previous -0.2% figure, primarily due to a widening goods trade deficit linked to weaker exports. Yet, other data released Thursday painted a more positive picture.
Factory orders in May soared by 16.4% month-over-month to $343.6 billion, marking the biggest increase since July 2014. That followed a revised 6.6% drop in April and smashed market expectations of an 8.5% gain. Weekly jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 236,000 in the week ending …