S&P Reclaims 5,000 As Disappointing Retail Sales Put Fed Cuts Back On Track, Small Caps Shine: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

U.S. stocks broadly surged on Thursday, marking a two-day rebound after the Tuesday market turmoil triggered by a stronger-than-expected inflation report. Investors honed in on robust corporate earnings data while drawing positive insights from a disappointing January retail sales report, reigniting speculation about potential Fed interest rate cuts.

The S&P 500 surged back above 5,000 points, while the Nasdaq 100 paused for a breather at 17,800.

Small caps outshined large caps, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rallying 1.4% on top of Wednesday’s 2.4% surge.

The dollar moved slightly lower, causing commodities to regain some ground. Gold, as tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, surged back above $2,000, while silver rallied 2.3%.

Crude oil prices, as tracked by the United States Oil Fund USO, rose 1.9% to $78 a barrel.

Thursday’s Performance In Major Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.3% higher to $500 the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.6% to $386.34 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ held at $433.15, according to Benzinga Pro data.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE, outperformed, up 2.2%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK was the laggard, down 0.5%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Tesla Inc. TSLA rose 4% amid rising optimism that the Biden administration could enact proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations next month that might speed up the electric vehicle transition.
• Wells Fargo & Company WFC rose over 6% after the bank announced the the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency concluded a 2016 consent order over its sales practices misconduct.
• CBRE Group Inc. CBRE rallied 8% on stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
• Shares of Deer & Company DE fell 6% as the company unveiled a disappointing outlook for the first quarter.
• Other companies reacting to earnings are Antero Resources Corp. AR, up 10%, Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, down 2.5%, Zebra Technologies Corp. ZBRA, up 11%, West Pharmaceuticals Services Inc. WST, down 14%, Twilio Inc. TWLO, down 15%, AppLovin Corp. APP, up 21%, Pegasystems Inc. PEGA, up 31%, YETI Holdings Inc. YETI, down 15%, Penn Entertainment Inc. PENN, down 14% and Tripadvisor Inc. TRIP, up 10%.

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Illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.