A Quiet Grind Higher
Wall Street's major benchmarks barely budged on Thursday, but the session had plenty of moving parts under the surface. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 119.65 points to settle at 53,463.05, while the S&P 500 ticked up 0.21% to 7,707.98. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 26,331.09, a gain of 0.16%.
Chip stocks staged a tentative comeback after a bruising stretch, though a late-session rebound attempt elsewhere ran out of steam.
Crypto Steals the Spotlight
The real fireworks came from digital assets. Bitcoin jumped 1.49% to $69,357.25, knocking on the door of $70,000 for the first time in weeks. The trigger: fresh chatter in Washington around a "Crypto Clarity Act" backed by the White House. Ether climbed in step, and sentiment across the sector turned visibly more upbeat.
Yields Drift, Gold Slips
In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.645% as the national debt load crossed the $40 trillion milestone. The 2-year note sat at 4.166%.
- WTI crude rose 0.20% to $86.00 a barrel, with Iran-related tensions keeping a floor under prices.
- Gold slipped 0.18% to $4,537.30 as Morgan Stanley questioned the metal's place in portfolios.
- South Korea's Kospi tumbled more than 5%, tracking a sharp drop in AI-linked names.
What to Watch
- Moderna and Merck soared after their cancer vaccine delivered promising late-stage trial results.
- Fed minutes revealed a live debate over the inflation outlook.
- Energy giants face fresh scrutiny as BP's annual meeting approaches.
It was a session where investors weighed earnings beats against geopolitical noise — and mostly held their ground.