S&P 500 Index notches new record high on strong US data

• Wall Street’s main indexes opened sharply on Thursday.
• Retail Sales in US rose sharply in March.
• Risk-sensitive technology stocks post strong gains after the opening bell.

Major equity indexes in the US started the day decisively higher on Thursday with the upbeat macroeconomic data releases providing a boost to risk sentiment. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was trading at a new record high of 4,152, rising 0.66% on the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.65% at 33,953 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 1.25% at 13,974.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Census Bureau revealed that Retail Sales in March rose by 9.8%, compared to analysts’ estimate for an increase of 5.9%. Furthermore, the Initial Jobless Claims dropped to its lowest level in a year at 576,000 in the week ending April 10.

Reflecting the positive impact of these figures on market mood, the risk-sensitive Technology Index is up 1.35% after the opening bell. On the other hand, the Financials Index is down 0.73% pressured by a 3% decline in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield.

S&P 500 chart (daily)