Stock market today: S&P 500 and Nasdaq head for new highs as Nvidia rally pushes on

Major averages were headed for another all-time high Thursday amid Nvidia's big rally this week. Jobless claims continued to hover near 10-month highs.

• US stocks are on track to hit fresh records on Thursday. 
• Nvidia continued to rally after recently claiming the title as the world's most valuable company.
• Jobless claims were little changed as 238,00 people applied for unemployment benefits last week. 

US stock averages rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on track for another record.

Traders returned from the Juneteenth holiday with Nvidia shares continuing to soar after the company claimed edged out Microsoft as the world's most valuable company earlier in the week.

Investors were also assessing the latest jobless claims data. Last week, claims edged lower but remained near the highest level in 10 months as 238,000 people applied for unemployment benefits. The data points to some loosening of the labor market, which the Federal Reserve and chair Jerome Powell have said is necessary for rates to come down this year.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 5,503.68, up 0.3%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 38,900.73, up 0.2% (67 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 17,934.78, up 0.4%

Meanwhile, new home construction fell 5.5% to a four-year low last month, underscoring the ongoing supply-demand mismatch in the US housing market.

In a midyear outlook, Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk noted that the US economy is in a state of "unstable equilibrium" as forces pull in opposite directions.

"On the one hand, the lagged effects of Fed rate hikes continue to reign in growth, with higher borrowing costs biting into over-levered consumers, corporates, and banks alike," he wrote.

"On the other hand, the Fed 'pivot' in December 2023 triggered an easing of financial conditions—bond issuance surged, M&A activity awakened, risky asset rallied, and bond spreads tightened meaningfully. These easier conditions have at least partly neutralized the effects of the Fed hikes, paving the way for a reacceleration in both economic growth and inflation."

Sløk said that easier financial conditions should help continue to offset the effects of tighter Fed policy for at least the next three quarters.

Here's what else happened today:

• America's cardboard box recession is over, Bank of America says.
• Shadowy middlemen are giving Russia access to old Western technology.
• Stocks are nearing a 5% correction on a trio of mounting headwinds, according to one strategist.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil futures rose. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.76% to $82.19 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, edged 0.9% higher to $85.84 a barrel.
• Gold inched up 0.25% to $2,353.50 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield rose seven basis points to 4.292%.
• Bitcoin edged up to $65,218.