Stocks Hit New Records After Positive Reports on Economy

Wall Street rose to more records Thursday following some better-than-expected updates on the economy.

• The S&P 500 rose 33.66 points, or 0.5%, to 6,297.36 , beating the all-time high it set last week.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 229.71 points, or 0.5%, to 44,484.49.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 153.78 points, or 0.7%, to 20,884.27.

PepsiCo jumped 7.5% after delivering revenue and profit that topped Wall Street's expectations. The drink and snack giant also stood by its financial forecasts given in April, which projected lower full-year profit than previous forecasts due to increased costs from tariffs and a pullback in consumer spending, the AP reports.

A strong profit report from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. helped drive tech stocks The chip maker said net income soared nearly 61% in the last quarter as it's seeing strong demand from artificial intelligence and other customers, and its stock that trades in the US rose 4.1%. Other stocks involved in AI also climbed, and a 1.2% gain for Nvidia was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.

• United Airlines flew 3.1% higher after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it's seen an acceleration in demand from customers that began in early July, and it's expecting less uncertainty about the economy to hurt its business in the second half of this year.
• Lucid Group's stock surged 36.2% after it said Uber Technologies is aiming to use 20,000 or more of its vehicles over six years in a robotaxi program. It said it expects to launch "later next year in a major US city."

On the losing side of Wall Street was Abbott Laboratories, which fell 8.5% despite delivering results for the latest quarter that edged past analysts' expectations. The health care company cut the top end of its forecasted range for revenue growth over 2025. Elevance Health dropped 12.2% after reporting a weaker profit than analysts expected. It cut its forecast for profit in 2025 because of rising medical cost trends in its Affordable Care Act business, along with other factors.

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Treasury yields held relatively steady following several better-than-expected reports on the economy. One said that shoppers upped their spending at US retailers by more last month than economists expected. Such spending, along with a relatively solid jobs market, has helped keep the US economy out of a recession. A separate report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could be a signal of limited layoffs. A third suggested unexpectedly strong growth in manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region.