US stocks edged up to more records on Thursday, with the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq composite all hitting new all-time highs.
- The S&P 500 rose 4.15 points, or 0.1%, to 6,715.35.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.62 points, or 0.2%, to 46,519.72.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 88.89 points, or 0.4%, to 22,844.05.
Technology stocks helped lead the way after OpenAI announced partnerships with South Korean companies for its Stargate artificial-intelligence infrastructure project, the
AP reports.
Thursdays on Wall Street typically have investors reacting to the latest weekly tally of US workers applying for unemployment benefits. But DC's shutdown means this week's report on jobless claims has been delayed. An even more consequential report, Friday's monthly tally, will likely also not arrive on schedule. That increases uncertainty when much on Wall Street is riding on investors' expectation that the job market is slowing by enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it leads to a recession. "The Fed has been on record that they are very data dependent, and the lack of data from public sources is likely to be problematic," says Brian Rehling, head of global fixed-income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
So far, the stock market has looked past the delays of such data. Past government shutdowns have tended not to hurt the economy or stock market much, and the thinking is that this one could be similar, even if President Trump has threatened large-scale firings of federal workers this time around. That left corporate announcements as the main drivers of trading Thursday. Stocks in the chip and artificial-intelligence industries climbed after OpenAI announced partnerships with South Korean companies for Stargate, a $500 billion project aimed at building AI infrastructure. Samsung Electronics rose 3.5% in Seoul, and SK Hynix jumped 9.9%. On Wall Street, Advanced Micro Devices climbed 3.5% and Broadcom gained 1.4%. Nvidia's 0.9% rise was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward.
story continues below
Fair Isaac jumped 18% for its best day in nearly three years after announcing a program that will allow mortgage lenders to access FICO credit scores, cutting out such big credit bureaus as TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Occidental Petroleum fell 7.3% after it agreed to sell its chemical business, OxyChem, to Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion in cash. It could be the final big purchase for Berkshire Hathaway with famed investor Warren Buffett as its CEO.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
