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NEWSMAX<\/p>\n
The blue-chip Dow Jones index raced past the 24,000 mark for the first time on Thursday, propelled by further gains for bank stocks and a recovery in technology shares.<\/p>\n
The 30-member index has crossed four similar 1,000-point milestones this year on the back of strong corporate earnings, robust economic data and hopes that President Donald Trump\u2019s tax plan would make headway.<\/p>\n
Efforts to push the sweeping tax legislation through the U.S. Senate was hurtling on Thursday toward a dramatic conclusion, with Republican leaders pursuing behind-the-scenes deals intended to secure enough votes for passage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe signs continue to be good, the Republicans are actually moving the ball forward and I think the market is optimistic that it\u2019s going to happen,\u201d said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens in the market in the couple of days or weeks is going to depend on whether the Republicans can get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n
After an hour of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 128 points, or 0.5 percent, at 24,069 and the S&P 500 was up 10.80 points, or 0.41 percent, at 2,636.<\/p>\n
The Nasdaq Composite was up 38 points, or 0.6 percent, at 6,862, a day after posting its biggest one-day drop in more than three months.<\/p>\n
All the 11 major S&P indexes were higher, led by energy index\u2019s 1.33 percent rise.<\/p>\n
Brent crude prices gained more than 1.5 percent as an OPEC meeting progressed in Vienna where producers agreed to extend a supply-cut deal until end of 2018.<\/p>\n
Kroger was the biggest S&P gainer, surging about 12 percent after the biggest U.S. supermarket chain beat both sales and profit estimates.<\/p>\n
Juniper Networks saw its shares fell about 5 percent after Nokia denied takeover talks. Juniper\u2019s shares had shot up 22 percent after CNBC reported that Nokia had offered to buy the network gear maker for about $16 billion.<\/p>\n
Sears Holding jumped 13.3 percent after the retailer narrowed its quarterly losses.<\/p>\n
A clutch of data also helped sentiment. U.S. consumer spending slowed in October but underlying price pressures pushed higher for a second straight month.<\/p>\n
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, dropping for a second straight week as labor market conditions tightened further.<\/p>\n
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,871 to 752. On the Nasdaq, 1,567 issues rose and 895 fell.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2017 Thomson\/Reuters. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n