S&P Briefly Reaches Record Territory

Index surpasses all-time high closing mark, but ends up lower at the closing bell
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2020 3:10 PM CDT
S&P Briefly Reaches Record Territory
In this 2018 file photo, the logo for Foot Locker appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

The stock market had a relatively flat day on Thursday, though the S&P 500 briefly rose above its all-time record closing before ending the day lower, reports the AP. The benchmark S&P fell 6 points to 3,373, the Dow fell 79 points to 27,896, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 30 points to 11,042. During the day's trading, the S&P rose above its record of 3,386 before drifting back down. The Wall Street Journal notes that it's been only 123 trading days since the index set that mark on Feb. 19—before the pandemic sent it crashing. And since those lows in March, the index is up 51%.

Thursday's so-so day came after the Labor Department reported that new jobless claims fell below 1 million last week, ending a streak of 20 straight weeks above that figure. Still, investors seemed to be holding their enthusiasm until subsequent reports show that it's a trend and not a fluke. Meanwhile, the continued holdup of a coronavirus relief package in Congress continued to worry investors. “The economy needs another fiscal booster,” Lydia Boussour of Oxford Economics tells the Journal. “If it doesn’t get it, we run the risk of activity stalling and the labor market losing steam again.” (More stock market stories.)

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