US stocks advanced on Thursday, lifted by a rally in technology shares as investors absorbed generally solid economic data and monitored developments from Beijing, where Trump met with Xi.
All three major US indices closed higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting fresh record closing highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 370.26 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 50,063.46, finishing just 0.3 per cent below its record closing high reached in February.
The S&P 500 gained 56.99 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 7,501.24, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 232.88 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 26,635.22.
“Everybody's asking the same question: how much longer does this rally go on?” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
“There's a lot of people that are loving this rally but they're also antsy at the same time.”
Nvidia jumps after China chip approval
Technology stocks led gains across the S&P 500, with semiconductor shares boosted by Nvidia.
Nvidia rose 4.4 per cent after the US approved sales of the company’s H200 chips to Chinese firms.
Trump attended the Beijing summit alongside Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.
“Obviously, these are very high stakes meetings,” said Michael Monaghan, portfolio manager at Founder ETFs.
“It is certainly great power competition but I think that these two economies will be better off working together.”
Inflation concerns remain in focus
Economic data released during the session showed retail sales were broadly in line with expectations, although rising petrol prices linked to the Iran war contributed to higher import prices.
Import prices recorded their biggest increase since October 2022.
Recent inflation reports have also dampened expectations for near-term interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve.
Kansas City Federal Reserve president Jeffrey Schmid described inflation as the most “pressing risk” to the US economy, while characterising the broader economy as “resilient”.
Mixed moves across sectors
Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, technology shares led gains while materials stocks recorded the steepest declines.
Cisco jumped 13.4 per cent to a record high after announcing nearly 4,000 job cuts as part of a restructuring program and raising its annual revenue forecast.
US-listed shares of Nebius Group rose 6.7 per cent after Northland Capital increased its target price for the company.
Boeing shares fell 4.7 per cent, despite Trump saying China had agreed to buy 200 aircraft from the company.
Chipmaker Cerebras surged 68.2 per cent in its US market debut.
