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S&P 500, NASDAQ ON TRACK FOR FRESH RECORD CLOSES

Wall Street's main indexes are modestly higher early on Thursday, as investors mull over fresh economic data.

Retail sales jumped 0.6% in June - topping expectations for a modest 0.1% gain - while sales excluding autos also beat forecasts, rising 0.5%. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims for the week of July 12 came in at 221,000, below the anticipated 235,000. June import prices were below the estimate, while export prices were above the Reuters Poll.

Regarding some of the data, Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said:

"Import prices rose less than expected. After a few months of declining prices, apparel prices jumped higher, perhaps indicating that foreign sellers are no longer interested in eating the costs of tariffs."

Jacobsen added, "With strong retail sales demand, you can probably understand why sellers would like to test the waters of what sort of price hikes consumers might be able to tolerate."

"Agricultural and mining prices fell, so how much and where tariffs show up in the data is very product specific."

In any event, a majority of S&P 500 index .SPX sectors are higher. Industrials .SPLRCI is posting the biggest gain, while healthcare .SPXHC is taking the biggest hit.

Both industrials and tech .SPLRCT are on track to notch record closing highs, as are the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq composite .IXIC. The Dow .DJI is still down around 1.3% from its December 4, 2024 record finish.

Chip stocks .SOX, on the back of strong profits from Taiwan semiconductor, are slightly positive.

And although United Airlines UAL.O was trading down ahead of the open on a weak profit forecast, the stock, which is now up more than 3%, reversed to the upside. With this the Dow transports .DJT is among outperformers early in the session.

Regional banks .KRX are also posting an outsized gain.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood just shortly after 10:00 a.m. EDT:

(Terence Gabriel, Chuck Mikolajczak)

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