Wall St advances with a boost from chips, gold hits record high

NEW YORK :U.S. stocks followed their European counterparts higher and gold touched an all-time high on Thursday investors parsed an array of mixed quarterly earnings and digested a series of robust economic reports.

Gold hit a record high as the safe-haven metal benefited from looming election uncertainties.

Technology shares, particularly chips provided much of the upside muscle after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, beat earnings estimates and forecast a jump in fourth-quarter revenue, helping to ease fears of softening demand in the sector.

"By far the biggest contributor to today’s rally is TSMC's upward guidance, and that the much-telegraphed semiconductor slowdown associated with potential oversaturation of AI is not emerging, at least in their order books," said Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management in Philadelphia.

"So that leadership from the semiconductor space, when it hits the largest cap companies, is going to push the headline indices higher," Green said. "That, and the response to retail sales data," has added support to U.S. stocks, Green added.

All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced and the dollar built on recent gains after a report from the Commerce Department showed stronger-than-expected retail sales, and the Labor Department's initial jobless claims data landed below economists' estimates.

The Dow was on track to notch another all-time closing high.

Growth shares were outperforming value, while regional banks were ahead of the pack in the wake of upbeat earnings from M&T Bank, KeyCorp and others.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 152.46 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 43,229.15, the S&P 500 rose 4.07 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 5,846.34 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 32.63 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 18,399.71.

European shares rallied, closing within 1 per cent of record high levels after the European Central Bank (ECB) implemented a broadly expected 25-basis-point rate cut, while offering scant clues regarding its next move.

The move marked the ECB's third rate cut this year as the central bank has shifted its focus from reining in inflation to shoring up the EU's sputtering economy.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.21 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 852.43. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.83 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 17.82 points, or 0.87 per cent. Emerging market stocks fell 8.88 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 1,135.16.

U.S. Treasury yields gained ground after data suggested the U.S. economy is on solid footing, but left the Fed with enough room to move forward on a slower path to lower rates.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 7.7 basis points to 4.093 per cent, from 4.016 per cent late on Wednesday.

The 30-year bond yield rose 9.3 basis points to 4.3924 per cent from 4.299 per cent late on Wednesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 4.3 basis points to 3.978 per cent, from 3.935 per cent late on Wednesday.

The dollar touched an 11-week high after retail sales data beat expectations, boosting confidence in the health of the U.S. economy.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.24 per cent to 103.79, with the euro down 0.3 per cent at $1.0828.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.39 per cent to 150.21.

Crude oil prices edged higher as investors juggled developments in the Middle East conflict and falling U.S. inventories with sturdy economic data.

U.S. crude rose 0.40 per cent to $70.67 a barrel and Brent rose to $74.45 per barrel, up 0.31 per cent on the day.

Gold prices hit a record high on firming expectations for additional rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and mounting uncertainties surrounding the approaching U.S. presidential election.

Spot gold rose 0.65 per cent to $2,690.54 an ounce.