The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to a new record close after strong economic data eased lingering fears of a potential recession. However, the S&P 500 failed to set a new benchmark, even though it had hit an intraday record earlier in the session as the artificial intelligence trade mounted a revival.

The blue-chip index rose 161 points, or 0.37%, to 43,239.05, helped by a 9% gain for Travelers on the back of strong quarterly results. The Nasdaq Composite inched higher on Thursday after getting a boost from semiconductor names, and ultimately added 0.04% to 18,373.61. The S&P 500 closed down 0.02% to 5,841.47.

Chip stocks were the front-runners of Thursday's action, but gave up some of their gains heading into the market close. AI darling Nvidia ended the day up 0.9% after earlier notching a new all-time high. The stock was boosted after Taiwan Semiconductor, a major supplier for Nvidia and other chip manufacturers, reported strong third-quarter results and raised its revenue forecast for the last three months of the year. Shares of TSMC closed up 9.8%.

Michael Green, chief strategist of Simplify Asset Management, said the rotation back into Big Tech names was simply investors returning to their "normal state of affairs."

"This feels more like more of the normal, as compared to a broadening or reversal or anything important along those lines," he told CNBC.

New data released Thursday on the economy also lifted stocks.

September's retail sales figures showed that consumer spending was still robust, with monthly spending rising 0.4%, while Dow Jones consensus estimates called for 0.3%. Sales excluding autos shot up 0.5%, much hotter than the 0.1% forecast. Jobless claims for the week that ended Oct. 12 were also lower than expected.

However, Green said seasonal adjustments were mostly to thank for the strong retail sales numbers, and that the rally higher in equities could be interpreted as due to investor optimism.

"If you look at this year versus just last year on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, [the numbers] were largely flat. So would I interpret it as significantly stronger data? Not really. But what matters is how the market interprets it, and the market clearly wants to see it in a bullish light right now," he said.

Travelers boosts Dow to new record close

Shares of Travelers propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a new record close on Thursday.

The blue-chip index rose 161.35 points, or 0.37%, to settle at 43,239.05. The S&P 500 slid 0.02% and closed at 5,841.47. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.04%, finishing at 18,373.61.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Deutsche Bank raises McDonald's price target

Deutsche Bank raised its price target for shares of McDonald's ahead of the fast-food giant's third-quarter earnings, due out Oct. 29.

Analyst Lauren Silberman hiked her price target to $345 from $290. This updated forecast implies shares of McDonald's could rise 10% from their Wednesday closing price of $312.92.

"While MCD has outperformed peers in recent months, the stock has notably underperformed the market YTD and we believe sentiment should continue to remain positive given improving fundamentals in what we expect to remain a challenging and value-centric backdrop," Silberman wrote. "We see MCD as well positioned to outperform in this environment."

Shares of McDonald's have climbed 5% this year, compared to the S&P 500's 23% rise.

— Lisa Kailai Han

China funds pull back

The iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) headed for its worst week in about two years as investors continued pumping the breaks on trades tied to the Asian country.

The exchange-traded fund has dropped more than 8% this week. If that holds through Friday's closing bell, it would mark the worst week for the fund since October 2022, when it slid more than 9% in one week.

The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) and iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) also both tracked for their biggest weekly losses in more than a year.

Despite those drawdowns, all three funds are still up in 2024, underscoring the strength of their recent rallies.

— Alex Harring

Stocks making midday moves

Here are some of the names making the biggest moves during midday trading:

• Blackstone — Shares jumped about 7% after the alternative asset managers reported third-quarter earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $2.43 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings per share of 92 cents on revenue of $2.41 billion.
• CSX — The stock shed 5.7% after CSX reported third-quarter earnings were 46 cents per share on revenue of $3.62 billion. That is below the LSEG consensus estimate of 48 cents per share and $3.67 billion in revenue.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance — Shares slid nearly 5%, paring some of the 15.8% it gained in the prior session. On Wednesday, Walgreens posted a fourth-quarter earnings beat and announced plans to close about 1,200 stores over the next three years.

To see more stocks moving in midday trading, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

Utilities lead weekly sector gains

Utilities are up 3.4% for the week, making it the S&P 500's top outperformer during the period.

Dominion Energy and Vistra Corp. advanced 7.5% and 6.4%, respectively, week to date.

Financials and real estate were the following best-performing sectors of the market, rising more than 2% each.

Meanwhile, energy is down 2.7% week to date, making it the worst-performing sector.

— Hakyung Kim

Information technology stocks poised for longest weekly win streak this year

Information technology stocks in the S&P 500 are slated to finish the week more than 1% higher. That would mark the sector's sixth straight winning week, its longest positive streak since late 2023.

Broadcom led the sector's ascent so far this week, notching an advance of more than 4%. Monolithic Power Systems and Micron followed, with each adding around 5.5%.

On the other hand, Super Micro Computer and Fortinet were among stocks restricting gains for the group this week. Both shed nearly 2% each on the week.

— Alex Harring

Affirm heads for its worst day since July

Shares of buy now, pay later stock Affirm dived 8% on Thursday and headed for their worst day since July 24, when they fell 9.8%.

The move lower followed news that competitor Klarna announced its payment option would be available for checkout through Apple Pay.

Shares of Affirm are now down 10% on the year.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Nicholas Wells

Travelers leads insurance stocks and Dow higher

Dow component Travelers is up 8% in trading after solidly beating third-quarter expectations as underwriting and investment gains offset catastrophe losses. The move, which lifted shares to an all-time high intraday, is leading insurance stocks higher and boosting the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Travelers is on pace for its best day since March 17, 2020, when it gained 13.3%. The stock, which is up 38% year to date, has outperformed the market.

— Christina Cheddar Berk, Nick Wells

TS Lombard is not worried about central banks falling behind the curve

Before the Federal Reserve cut rates by an outsized half-percentage point in September, investors worried that Fed Chair Jerome Powell was behind the curve in guiding the U.S. economy toward a soft landing.

Now, investors increasingly believe the central bank is ahead of the curve with its rate cuts. In a note from Thursday, TS Lombard agreed with this stance.

"With few notable exceptions, we are not too worried about central banks falling behind the curve: even if this happens, they could catch up quickly because there are no underlying macro-financial imbalances," wrote economist Dario Perkins. "We think the consensus is underestimating the resilience of the global economy. We do not believe the world is going back to the zero-rate/perma-QE regime of the pre-COVID era."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stats from Evercore ISI show strong third-quarter earnings season so far

On Thursday morning, Evercore ISI shared some statistics on the third-quarter earnings season, which is currently underway.

At the time of the note's release, 55 companies in the S&P 500 had reported their results. Here are some stats Evercore ISI shared, indicating the strength of the season so far:

• Sales and earnings growth have respectively surprised by 1.3% and 6.7%.
• The average stock valuation added 2% post-results.
• Companies beating both the top and bottom line are higher on average by 3.3%, versus the 5-year average of 0.9%.
• Companies missing both the top and bottom lines are lower by 3.2% versus the average of 3.1%.

Lisa Kailai Han

66 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week highs

Sixty-six stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs Thursday morning.

Names that hit this milestone included:

• T-Mobile US trading at all-time highs back to the MetroPCS initial public offering in April 2007
• Expedia trading at levels not seen since May 2022
• BlackRock trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in 1999
• GE Aerospace trading at levels not seen since November 2007
• United Airlines trading at levels not seen since March 2020
• Nvidia trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in January 1999
• WEC Energy Group trading at levels not seen since April 2023
• Boston Properties trading at levels not seen since August 2022
• Hilton Worldwide trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in December 2013

On the other hand, just two stocks traded at new 52-week lows: Centene and Elevance Health.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

Lucid shares plunge after public offering announcement

Lucid Group shares plummeted more than 15% in morning trading after the electric vehicle startup announced plans to sell nearly 262.5 million shares of its common stock in a public offering.

The company also said Ayar Third Investment, Lucid's majority stockholder and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund affiliate, will purchase more than 374.7 million shares of its common stock in a "private placement concurrently with the public offering."

The stock has fallen more than 34% this year and more than 26% over the past month.

— Sean Conlon

Nvidia hits record high

Nvidia shares climbed more than 3% on Thursday to a record high. The move comes as Taiwan Semiconductor, a major Nvidia supplier, rallied on the back of strong third-quarter earnings.

Nvidia hit a high of $140.89, breaking above the previous all-time high of $140.76 set June 20. Year to date, the stock has surged 180%.

— Fred Imbert

Stocks open higher

Stocks opened higher, extending their Wednesday rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 145 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Elevance Health, Taiwan Semiconductor among the names making moves premarket

Here are some stocks making big moves in premarket trading:

• Elevance Health — Shares plummeted more than 10% after the health insurer reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings. In a statement, CEO Gail Boudreaux said the company remains "confident" amid "unprecedented challenges in the Medicaid business." Health-care stocks Molina Healthcare and Centene also fell, down nearly 9% and more than 7%, respectively.
• Taiwan Semiconductor — The stock surged more than 8% after the company reported a 54% gain in net profit for the third quarter. Shares of chip giant Nvidia, one of TSMC's clients, rose more than 3% in sympathy following the quarterly results.
• Expedia — Shares jumped nearly 5% after the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the process, that Uber explored a potential takeover bid for the online travel company. According to Financial Times sources, Uber's interest in Expedia was at an "early stage." Uber shares fell more than 2%.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

Retail sales rise more than expected in September

The Commerce Department said Thursday that U.S. retail sales grew 0.4% in September, beating a Dow Jones forecast for a 0.3% increase. Excluding autos, sales expanded 0.5%, while economists anticipated a gain of just 0.1%.

— Fred Imbert

ECB takes key deposit rate down another quarter point

The European Central Bank on Thursday lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points, the third such move this year as policymakers grow more comfortable with the pace of inflation.

Though the ECB still expects inflation to rise, it projects a decline to its 2% target thereafter. Thursday's move takes the bank's deposit facility rate down to 3.25% following the quarter-percentage-point reduction.

"Domestic inflation remains high, as wages are still rising at an elevated pace. At the same time, labour cost pressures are set to continue easing gradually, with profits partially buffering their impact on inflation," the ECB said in its post-meeting statement.

— Jeff Cox

Raymond James upgrades Sealed Air to strong buy

Raymond James has a bullish outlook on protective and food packaging company Sealed Air heading into next year.

Analyst Matt Roberts upgraded shares to strong buy, saying the company's risk/reward is poised to "break on through to the other side."

"We view a compelling risk/reward profile in SEE amid a paradigm shift in priorities and company structure amid recent management changes," Roberts said in a note to clients. "We expect the Protective segment to stabilize from sustainable solutions and/or undergo a portfolio review in 2025."

Roberts added that investors are overlooking value in the overall food segment, which has returned to volume growth and has potential upside to 2025 estimates from an improved cattle cycle.

Roberts' $42 price target implies shares could gain about 19%. The stock is down 3.3% this year.

— Pia Singh

Taiwan Semiconductor rises 8% on strong third-quarter results

U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 8% early Thursday morning after the chipmaker posted strong third-quarter results.

TSMC's third-quarter net income came out to around 325.3 billion Taiwanese dollars, or $10.1 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated net income of 300.2 billion Taiwanese dollars, according to Reuters.

The company also posted net revenue of $23.5 billion, up 36% year over year. TSMC's gross margin in the quarter rose to 57.8%, compared to 54.3% this time last year.

"Based on the current business outlook, we expect for our fourth-quarter revenue to be between $26.1 billion and $26.9 billion, which represents a 13% sequential increase or a 35% year-over-year increase at the midpoint," TSMC Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said on an earnings call, according to a call transcript produced by FactSet.

TSMC attributed its performance to strong artificial intelligence-related demand. Shares of TSMC have soared 80% this year.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Ruxandra Iordache

Daiwa downgrades Uber on potential long-term risks tied to robotaxis

Uber has gathered a lot of attention from Wall Street lately after Tesla's largely disappointing robotaxi reveal failed to prove a near-term threat for the stock. Still, some analysts have long-term concerns.

One of the more bearish analysts on the ride-share giant is Daiwa analyst Jairam Nathan, who downgraded his rating on Uber to neutral from outperform. Nathan's $84 price target suggests just 2.6% potential upside for the stock, which is up about 33% year to date.

"The recent outperformance following Tesla's un-impressive Robotaxi event leaves limited upside to valuations, in our view," Nathan said in a Wednesday note to clients. "While the threat from robotaxis is not imminent, Tesla's robotaxi model does highlight some risks to Uber."

Risks include a potential revenue share of far lower gross bookings per mile even under an Uber ride-sharing network, loss of control over pricing and initial competition from robotaxis likely in higher usage areas, the analyst said.

— Pia Singh

China property stocks drop after housing ministry briefing; most Asia-Pacific markets slip

SINGAPORE 一 Most Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday after a briefing from China's housing ministry failed to impress investors, sending the country's property stocks tumbling.

The CSI 300 real estate index — which had gained over 5% on Wednesday — fell nearly 8%, while the benchmark CSI 300 declined 1.13% to 3,788.22.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1.3% at 20,030 as of its final hour of trade. 

Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.69% to close at 38,911.19, while the broad-based Topix was down 0.11% to end at 2,687.83 after Japanese export and import growth in September missed expectations.

South Korea's Kospi ended marginally lower at 2,609.30, while the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 0.1% to 765.79.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.86% to end trading at 8,355.9.

— Dylan Butts

European markets open higher

European stocks were slightly higher shortly after Thursday's opening bell.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 traded up nearly 0.2%, with most sectors in positive territory.

— Sam Meredith

Small-cap benchmark closes at highest level since 2021

The Russell 2000 outperformed on Wednesday, notching its highest closing level in nearly three years.

The small-cap benchmark added 1.64%, posting its fourth straight winning session and its highest close since November 2021.

These smaller names are expected to put on a strong showing as the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates. These companies, which are sensitive to economic cycles, tend to rely on financing, and lower rates would reduce their borrowing costs.

"With the growth outlook recently improving — underpinned by better-than-feared labor market conditions — and increased visibility into Fed rate cuts, the [Russell 2000] has rallied off the lower end of its rising price channel," said LPL Financial chief technical strategist Adam Turnquist in a note.

The rally among banking names has also boosted the small-cap benchmark, as it is the Russell 2000's largest sector by weighting, he said.

— Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes

Weak back-to-school spending may be a warning sign for holiday shopping

If back-to-school spending sets the tone for the holiday shopping season, there is good reason to be cautious, according to Barclays. The firm's latest look at the U.S. consumer noted the deep divides between households with incomes of $100,000 or less and wealthier cohorts as well as steep discounting. While the firm said spending remains healthy, demand has been choppy.

Lower-income consumers remain pressured as wages have not kept up with inflation, the firm said. Meanwhile, higher income households may be feeling a "wealth effect" from rising investment portfolios and inflated home values.

"Retailers that are clean on inventory and able to maintain store traffic should do fine, but we expect downside from those that are not," Hale Holden wrote in a research note. "In many ways this strikes us a return to 2018 or 2019 base trends."

Barclays retail analyst Adrienne Yih picked Foot Locker, VF Corp. and Victoria's Secret as three stocks that will benefit as their margins recover late in the cycle over the next two to four quarters. All three stocks have vastly underperformed the market, with Foot Locker shares down 20% year to date.

Victoria's Secret's stock jumped 6.6% Wednesday after its iconic fashion show returned.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading:

• Discover Financial — Shares inched lower by 1%. The financial services company posted third-quarter results that surpassed expectations, with earnings of $3.69 per share on $4.45 billion of revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG were calling for earnings of $3.42 per share and revenue of $4.35 billion.
• CSX — The rail transportation company lost 4% after third-quarter results fell short of Wall Street's forecasts. CSX reported earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $3.62 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG anticipated 48 cents per share in earnings and revenue of $3.67 billion. Overall volumes were up 3% from the year-ago period, but revenue per unit was down about 1%.
• Lucid Group — The electric vehicle maker slid 10% after announcing a public offering of more than 262 million shares. Lucid also said Ayar Third Investment Company, an affiliate of the Public Investment Fund, indicated it would buy more than 374 million shares.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Stock futures are flat Wednesday

U.S. stock futures opened little changed on Wednesday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were marginally lower. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures inched down 0.05% and 0.08%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim