The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit fresh intraday record highs on Thursday, boosted by gains in chip giant Nvidia, while investors assessed economic data and monitored developments around the high-stakes U.S.-China summit. Nvidia rose 3%, giving the chipmaker a market valuation of about $5.6 trillion, after Reuters reported citing sources that the U.S. has cleared about 10 Chinese firms to buy its second-most powerful AI chip, the H200. Meanwhile, Cisco soared 14.7% to an all-time high after the tech networking giant said it would cut nearly 4,000 jobs as part of a restructuring, and raised its annual revenue forecast after a surge in hyperscaler orders. A steady rally in technology stocks in recent weeks, particularly chipmakers, has pushed U.S. stocks to new highs even though concerns remain about the Middle East conflict and higher inflation due to surging oil prices.
U.S. retail sales increased 0.5% in April, in line with estimates, but some of the rise in receipts was likely due to higher inflation as the war with Iran boosted prices of energy products and other commodities.
