S&P 500 reached 5000 points

Wall Street traded mixed after buying led by technology stocks, allowing the S&P 500 Index to set new all-time highs and approach the 5,000-point psychological barrier.

Investors are not paying attention to the new corporate results and will keep a close eye on U.S. economic activity data.

"The S&P 500 has hit an all-time high and is trading near the 5,000-point milestone. This is a powerful psychological milestone, but it could trigger profit taking due to an overbought market. Although the index rally is supported by the expectation of the upcoming rate cuts and good profit margins", - estimates Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Link Securities experts note that the S&P 500 set its eighth historic high this year, while the Dow Jones set its tenth.

At the same time, the Nasdaq Composite "has performed best thanks to big stocks and artificial intelligence (AI) fever and is now just 1.9% away from surpassing its all-time high, something it hasn't achieved since November 2021," they add.

Disney and Arm

The US earnings season is going better than expected, which has allowed investors to be optimistic that the country's healthy economy could continue to drive corporate earnings growth.

In that sense, Disney and Arm's reports beat expectations. The entertainment giant rose 6 percent in premarket after it reported earnings per share of $1.22 and announced a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, maker of the Fornite video game.

Read more about Disney's investment in Fornite developer

Shares of the British chipmaker soared 25% on Wall Street's premarket after its fiscal 2024 third quarter beat forecasts, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence.

What's wrong with the economy

One of the justifications for Federal Reserve (Fed) members' "caution" in easing monetary policy is the current strength of the U.S. economy. So on Thursday, observers will be keeping a close eye on the release of weekly unemployment data, the most important indicator reflecting the strength of the labor market. Jobless claims are expected to fall, exceeding the consensus forecast.

What's up with the market

On the corporate front, regional New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) is down about 5% again in the premarket despite clarifications and a new CEO.

In other markets, West Texas Intermediate crude is up 0.37% ($74.12) and Brent crude is up 0.49% ($79.61). The euro is up 0.10% ($1.0779) and gold is down 0.05% ($2.050).

In addition, U.S. 10-year bond yields rose to 4.104% and bitcoin rose 1.59% ($44.813).