Spencer Platt/Getty Images
- The S&P 500 topped the 4,000 mark for the first time as second-quarter trading kicked off.
- Stocks rose after President Joe Biden outlined his $2 trillion multi-year infrastructure plan.
- The 10-year Treasury yield edged lower after weekly jobless claims rose by more than expected.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
US blue-chip stocks hit record highs on Thursday, starting off the second quarter with a bang, after President Joe Biden's plans to spend $2 trillion to upgrade and modernize US infrastructure ignited investor risk appetite, boosting equities and commodities.
The S&P 500 pushed past the 4,000 level for the first time, getting off to a strong start for April, a month that typically has been one of the strongest in the year for the benchmark index.
Here's where US indexes stood at 09:57 a.m. on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 3,998.26, up 0.64% (25.37 points)
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,992.39, up 0.03 % (10.84 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,460.03, up 1.61% (213.16 points)
Tesla shares were among so-called green stocks that rose after Biden late Wednesday outlined an eight-year plan for investments in transportation systems, including shifts toward electric vehicles, as well as spending on broadband and roads. He's also aiming for investment in other areas such as child care.
Biden's plan will also include an accompanying tax hike for corporations, something which could temper some of the enthusiasm on Wall Street, analysts said.
"The larger impact to markets will be whether or not the corporate tax rate is raised to 28% -- or somewhere in between there and the current 21% level -- and whether or not a global minimum tax on corporations can be established," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, said in a note.
"It's likely that the stock market can withstand a hike in the corporate tax rate to 25%, but unclear how much room there is above that if stocks are going to keep moving higher between now and year-end," he said.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield fell below 1.7%, as bond prices rose following the release of US jobless claims data that cast some doubt on the robustness of the labor market. Claims totaled 719,000 last week, higher than the median estimate of 678,000 from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The reading also marked the second increase in three weeks.
Elsewhere, US-listed shares of Nio and Xpeng jumped after the China-based electric vehicle manufacturers reported strong first-quarter delivery figures.
Gold rose 0.7% to $1,727.15 per ounce. Long-dated US Treasury yields eased, with the 30-year yield falling 6 basis points to 2.368%, while the benchmark 10-year yield also fell 6 basis points to 1.697%, still close to its highest since the onset of the pandemic last year.
Oil prices rose as OPEC and its allies met to discuss their production strategy. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, gained 1.7% to $63.80 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude traded up 2.1% at $60.41 a barrel.
Bitcoin was last up 0.7% on the day at $58,961.