- The S&P 500 notched its seventh straight win Thursday and marked a record high.
- The Nasdaq Composite also gained, with Tesla stock rising on strong third-quarter earnings.
- Corporate guidance generally has been running at a solid pace.
The S&P 500 closed higher Thursday, stretching its winning streak to seven sessions, as investors continue to sift through mostly positive third-quarter earnings reports and guidance so far from Corporate America.
The S&P 500 turned higher during the day, and the Nasdaq Composite finished with a win as well. Each found support from Tesla stock after the electric vehicle maker posted record revenue and profit in its third-quarter earnings report.
But the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost ground, barely, weighed partially by a slump in IBM shares following a quarterly revenue miss. The Dow closed effectively flat, down just 6 points.
Here's where US indexes stood at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 4,549.78, up 0.3%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,603.08, down 0.02%
- Nasdaq Composite: 15,215.70, up 0.62%
Through early Wednesday, few companies have missed earnings expectations and most have logged revenue above analyst targets. Guidance has also been strong, with nearly 13% of companies raising their outlooks, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
"Guidance cuts are also extremely low versus history, though it's worth noting that for this sample of stocks guidance tends to be low and very volatile from one quarter to the next," it said in a note early Thursday.
"Regardless, we think it's fair to say that management teams are still in general feeling increasing confidence about the outlook despite an impressive string of optimistic quarters over the past year or so," said Bespoke.
Around the markets, Digital World Acquisition stock more than tripled in value on its deal to take former US President Donald Trump's new media company public.
Bond giant Pimco plans to gradually edge into trading in cryptocurrencies, its investment chief Daniel Ivascyn told CNBC.
WeWork stock climbed in its first day of trading, two years after efforts by the flexible-workspace company to launch an initial public offering crashed.
Gold slipped 0.1% to $1,779.64 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.678%.
Oil prices dropped. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 1.9% at $81.87 per barrel. Brent oil, the international benchmark, also slumped 1.9%, at $84.16 per barrel.
Bitcoin retreated from a record high reached Wednesday, sliding 5% to $62,623.04 on Thursday.