Wall Street Holds Steady As Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Notches Record Highs: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

U.S. stocks traded sideways on Thursday as investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks on inflation and tariffs following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Powell downplayed concerns that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump could reignite inflation, calling their impact "transitory." Yet, the Fed's latest projections signaled slower economic growth, rising unemployment and hotter inflation.

By midday in New York, major indexes were little changed, with financial stocks leading modest gains.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK BRK extended its rally to fresh record highs, on track for a sixth consecutive positive session. The stock's year-to-date outperformance over the S&P 500 has widened to 20 percentage points.

In commodities, gold edged lower as the U.S. dollar strengthened, while Bitcoin BTC/USD slid 2.8%, dipping below $85,000. Oil prices jumped 1.5% to $67 per barrel amid escalating geopolitical tensions, as Israel launched a new ground operation in Gaza, breaking a two-month ceasefire.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Dow Jones	42,081.53	0.3%
S&P 500	5,674.16	0.0%
Russell 2000	2,080.75	0.0%
Nasdaq 100	19,711.27	-0.1%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY inched 0.1% down to $566.56.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.2% to $421.00.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ slipped 0.2% to $479.28.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM eased 0.2% to $206.03
• The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF outperformed, up 0.6%; the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY lagged, down 0.6%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI rose 5.4% in reaction to stronger-than-expected earnings.
• Other stocks reacting to corporate earnings were Jabil Inc. JBL, up 5.2%, Accenture plc ACN, down 7.2%, PDD Holdings Inc. PDD, up 2%, Five Below Inc. FIVE, up 7%, Facset Research Systems FDS.
• Companies slated to report their earnings after the close include Nike Inc. NKE, Micron Technology Inc. MU, FedEx Corp. FDX, Lennar Corp. LEN.

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