The S&P 500 finished little changed{

S&P closes little changed, briefly tops 5,000 for first time ever

Stocks finished slightly higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 edging up 0.06% to finish at 4,997.91 after briefly touching above 5,000 for the first time ever.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48.97 points, or 0.13%, to end at 38,726.33, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to close at 15,793.71.

— Samantha Subin

The broad-based index edged up 0.06% to finish at 4,997.91 after reaching a high of 5,000.40 heading into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48.97 points, or 0.13%, to end at 38,726.33, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to close at 15,793.71.

It's a "good headline, but in perspective, it's another stop on this ridiculous rally that we've seen," said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. "I think the market is tiring, this rally is tiring."

Strong earnings, and a continued chug higher in megacap technology stocks, have boosted the market in recent sessions, but concentrated leadership in 2023's darlings has been a matter of concern for some investors fearing it could hamper a sustainable rally.

Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors, attributed this narrow breadth to renewed uncertainty surrounding rate cuts after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other officials talked down hopes for a March cut.

Earnings remained top of mind for investors, with Disney surging 11.5%{

Disney pops 8% on strong earnings, guidance

Walt Disney shares rallied nearly 8% in the premarket after the entertainment giant posted strong earnings and guidance after the bell Wednesday as it cuts streaming costs.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.22 per share, topping an LSEG estimate of 99 cents. Revenues came in at $23.55 billion, falling short of the $23.64 billion expected by analysts. Management also said adjusted earnings are expected to rise 20% to $4.60 per share in the fiscal year.

Disney also said its poised to meet or surpass its goal to cut at least $7.5 billion in costs by the end of the fiscal 2024 year and announced a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite creator Epic Games.

The company also plans to launch its flagship ESPN streaming service in 2025 and said it would stream an exclusive iteration of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie.

— Samantha Subin, Sarah Whitten

beating quarterly earnings estimates Arm eporting stronger-than-expected earnings

Yields rose Thursday with the 10-year Treasury note last at 4.15%. The move put some pressure on stocks despite a raft of strong earnings reports that have lifted investor confidence that a robust economy can continue driving corporate profits and growth.

"Earnings continue to come in better than expected, and contribute to some pretty positive moves in specific stocks," Arone said. "Overall, in terms of sentiment, that's allowed the market to continue to touch new highs."

The earnings season continues after the bell with reports from Expedia, Affirm Holdings and Take-Two Interactive.

S&P closes little changed, briefly tops 5,000 for first time ever

Stocks finished slightly higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 edging up 0.06% to finish at 4,997.91 after briefly touching above 5,000 for the first time ever.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48.97 points, or 0.13%, to end at 38,726.33, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to close at 15,793.71.

— Samantha Subin

Bitcoin rises above $45,000, its highest level in almost a month

Bitcoin related stocks surged on Thursday as the price of the flagship cryptocurrency rose 3% to its highest level in almost a month.

Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase jumped about 8%, while bitcoin proxy Microstrategy added 15%. In the mining group, CleanSpark rose 12%, Riot Platforms advanced 15%, while Marathon Digital gained 22% and Iris Energy surged 22%.

Traders also point out that bitcoin accumulation by large investors, known as "whales," has increased in the past two weeks, when the cryptocurrency's price has been stuck below December and January highs. Bitcoin has a strong setup for 2024 thanks to the introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs as well as the upcoming halving and expectations of rate cuts later this year.

— Tanaya Macheel

Fourth-quarter earnings scorecard

Fourth-quarter earnings continue to point to signs of strength.

So far, 319 companies, or 64% of the S&P 500, have reported results, with 81% of those names topping earnings estimates, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, 63% have surpassed revenue expectations.

 Based on the blended growth rate, earnings are expected to rise 9% from a year ago

— Samantha Subin

Deutsche Bank's Binky Chadha says earnings, not rates, will drive the S&P 500

Deutsche Bank's Binky Chadha said he expects the S&P 500, which is teetering on the edge of a new milestone at 5,000, will power through this year on the strength of earnings growth.

In fact, the chief U.S. equity and global strategist at Deutsche Bank Securities, maintains the S&P 500 will reach 5,100 in his base case, and rise to 5,500 in his bull case. It was last hovering near the 5,000 level.

"Our call is based on earnings rather than basically what's going to happen to rates," Chadha told CNBC's "Money Movers" on Thursday.

"We've got six quarters of solid growth," Chadha said. "There's been a lot of boogeymen in the closet, on the table, everywhere. ... The textbook tells you to worry but there's no sign of it."

— Sarah Min

Arm's big rally bypasses chip sector funds

Thursday's huge rally for chipmaker Arm Holdings is a reminder that passive investing through broad-based and sector ETFs will sometimes miss out on big winners.

UK-based Arm is not a member of the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq 100, and as such is not present in many popular funds for American investors. Additionally, none of the four biggest non-levered semiconductor sector funds in the U.S. — offerings from VanEck (SMH), iShares (SOXX), State Street (XSD), and First Trust (FTXL) — count Arm as a holding.

All four of those funds were up on Thursday, however, suggesting that Arm's move was helping to boost confidence in the chip sector as a whole.

And investors in most major US-based financial ETFs won't get the secondary benefit of the rally for Arm investor Softbank, either, as no shares of the Japanese investment firm are listed on a U.S. exchange. Softbank's American depositary receipts, which trade over the counter, were up about 20% in afternoon trading.

— Jesse Pound

Oil rises for fourth day after Israel rejects Hamas ceasefire proposal

Crude oil futures prices rose for the fourth day in a row afte Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal by Hamas.

The West Texas Intermediate futures contract added $2.14, or 2.90%, to trade at $75.98 a barrel. The Brent contract for April gained $2.16, or 2.73%, to trade at $81.37 a barrel.

U.S. crude and the global benchmark are up 2.94% and 3.42% respectively for the week as the Middle East teeters between another round of violent escalation and a possible truce in the Gaza war.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a diplomatic tour of the region this week in an effort to secure an extended humanitarian pause in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages by Hamas.

Blinken met Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday to discuss a counterproposal by Hamas that demands a permanent end to the fighting.

Netanyahu rejected the Hamas' proposal, vowing to press on to the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt and achieve "total victory" in Gaza.

— Spencer Kimball

Stocks making the biggest moves in midday trading: Ralph Lauren, Walt Disney and more

These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:

• Ralph Lauren — Shares soared 16% after the apparel maker exceeded earnings and revenue expectations for its fiscal third quarter, saying it ended last year's holiday shopping season with healthy inventory levels.
• Walt Disney — The stock popped nearly 13% after the entertainment giant posted higher-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings.
• Hershey — Shares gained 5% after the chocolate confectionary manufacturer posted fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.02 per share, which exceeded analysts' estimate of $1.95 per share, per LSEG.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Disney heads for best day in more than three years

Walt Disney shares rallied more than 13% on Thursday, putting the media giant on pace for its best day since Dec. 11, 2020, when it climbed 13.6%.

The stock surged after the media giant posted strong earnings and hiked its guidance as it cuts losses in its streaming business and slashes costs. The company also announced a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games.

Shares have jumped nearly 17% in February and 24% year to date.

— Samantha Subin

Stocks reaching 52-week highs include Microsoft, Costco, Eaton and more

Several tocks in the S&P 500 reached new all-time highs on Thursday, including discount retailers Ross Stores and The TJX Companies, travel companies Expedia and Booking Holdings, power management companies Eaton and Hubbell. AI and semiconductor plays, including Nvidia and Microsoft, also rose.

Here are some of the names that hit their 52-week highs today:

• Booking Holdings trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in April 1999.
• Expedia trading at levels not seen since May 2022.
• Marriott International trading at all-time high levels back through its spin-off from Marriott Corp. in 1993.
• Ralph Lauren trading at levels not seen since Feb. 2015.
• Ross Stores trading at all-time high levels since its IPO in Aug. 1985
• The TJX Companies trading at all-time highs back to IPO in 1987.
• Costco trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Dec. 1985.
• Progressive trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1971.
• Prudential trading at levels not seen since Nov. 2022.
• Eaton trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in July, 1923.
• General Electric trading at levels not seen since Oct. 2017.
• Hubbell trading at all-time highs back through our history to 1972.
• Uber trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in May 2019.
• Microsoft trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in March 1986.
• Nvidia trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Jan. 1999.
• Palo Alto Networks trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in July 2012.
• Digital Realty Trust trading at levels not seen since April 2022.
• Equinix trading at levels not seen since Dec. 2021.
• Constellation Energy trading at all-time high levels back to its spin-off from Exelon in Jan. 2022.

Stocks in the S&P 500 that hit their 52-week lows include food processing company Hormel and Charter Communications.

— Pia Singh, Christopher Hayes

Fed's Barkin the latest to advise patience on rate cuts

Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin joined the chorus of cautious central bankers, saying in a speech Wednesday that the fight against inflation isn't over yet.

Speaking to the Economic Club of New York, Barkin noted the progress against higher prices, but warned that "the plane has not landed yet."

"So, it's possible that we will return to the pre-pandemic economy pretty seamlessly. It is also possible that the landing might be somewhat bumpier, with continued inflation pressure or demand challenges that we will need to counteract," he said in prepared remarks. "That's why I think it is smart for us to take our time."

Worries include a changing labor market with higher wage pressures, a housing market were prices are elevated because of a dearth of supply, and the trend of deglobalization after snagged supply chains in the early days of the Covid pandemic helped generate the rise in inflation to hits highest level in more than 40 years.

There's also a history of the Fed letting up too soon during earlier cycles.

"The Fed is committed to returning inflation all the way to 2 percent. As I think about that commitment, I can't help but look to lessons from the past. History tells many stories of inflation head-fakes," added Barkin, who is a voting member this year of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

—Jeff Cox

What's dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined more than 100 points during Thursday's session.

Amgen and Verizon declined about 2% each and led the 30-stock index to the downside. Johnson & Johnson, Visa, Travelers and 3M slumped at least 1%.

Only six stocks veered into positive territory, with Disney popping12% and restricting some of the index's losses. Salesforce was another top performer, adding 0.7%.

— Samantha Subin

Energy is Thursday's best-performing S&P 500 sector

Energy was the best-performing sector in the S&P 500 during morning trading, rising 0.8% alongside a 2% jump in oil prices.

Conocophillips was the top performer in the sector with a 2.5% gain. Devon Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources, Coterra and Exxon Mobil rose at least 1% each.

— Samantha Subin

IPO-focused ETF gains about 4%

The Renaissance IPO ETF, which contains the largest newly-listed public U.S. companies, rose nearly 4% Thursday morning and is on pace for its third straight winning day.

Chipmaker Arm Holdings, which is rallying more than 57% for the day, is leading the ETF's gains. Cloud software company Confluent is also up around 34%.

— Hakyung Kim

PayPal slumps 10% on lackluster guidance

PayPal shares slumped nearly 10% after the digital payments company issued disappointing guidance.

The company said it anticipates full-year earnings to come in at $5.10 per share, below the $5.48 analysts polled by LSEG anticipated. For the first quarter, PayPal also projects earnings growth in the mid-single digits, versus a consensus estimate of 8.7%.

PayPal topped Wall Street's quarterly expectations, posting adjusted earnings of $1.48 per share on $8.03 billion in revenue. That surpassed the earnings of $1.36 and revenues totaling $7.87 billion, according to LSEG.

Revenue also increased 9% year over year.

— Samantha Subin, Alex Koller

Stocks open little changed

Stocks opened little changed on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 50 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were flat.

— Samantha Subin

These are the stocks posting the biggest premarket moves

Check out the companies making headlines before the opening bell:

• Disney — Shares jumped 7.8% after the entertainment giant announced a 50% increase to its dividend and higher-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings. Also lifting the stock was Disney's positive guidance.
• Ralph Lauren — The stock popped 6% after the apparel maker posted a strong beat on earnings and revenue for its fiscal third quarter, saying it closed out the holiday shopping season with healthy inventory levels.
• Ally Financial — Shares added 2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the lender to overweight from equal weight, saying Ally is a strong way to play lower interest rates expected ahead.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Jobless claims totaled 218,000 last week, fewer than expected

Initial filings for unemployment insurance nudged lower last week as employers remain reluctant to let go of their workers.

Weekly jobless claims totaled 218,000 for the week ended Feb. 3, down 9,000 from the week before and just below the Dow Jones estimate for 220,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, decreased to 1.87 million, down 23,000 and slightly below the FactSet estimate for 1.88 million.

—Jeff Cox

Arm surges nearly 30% on strong forecast, AI demand

Shares of Arm Holdings skyrocketed nearly 30% after the chipmaker surpassed Wall Street's quarterly expectations and issued a strong profit forecast driven by exploding artificial intelligence demand.

The British chipmaker posted adjusted earnings of 29 cents per share on revenues totaling $824 million. That topped the EPS of 25 cents and $761 million in revenue expected by analysts polled by LSEG.

For the its fiscal fourth-quarter, Arm said it expects revenues to range between $850 million to $900 million, ahead of the $780 million projected by analysts.

The company said its license and other revenue rose 18% year over year as more companies opt to license its central processing unit designs to power artificial intelligence.

SoftBank, which took Arm public in September and owns about 90% of its outstanding stock, rallied more than 9%.

— Samantha Subin, Kif Leswing

Disney pops 8% on strong earnings, guidance

Walt Disney shares rallied nearly 8% in the premarket after the entertainment giant posted strong earnings and guidance after the bell Wednesday as it cuts streaming costs.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.22 per share, topping an LSEG estimate of 99 cents. Revenues came in at $23.55 billion, falling short of the $23.64 billion expected by analysts. Management also said adjusted earnings are expected to rise 20% to $4.60 per share in the fiscal year.

Disney also said its poised to meet or surpass its goal to cut at least $7.5 billion in costs by the end of the fiscal 2024 year and announced a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite creator Epic Games.

The company also plans to launch its flagship ESPN streaming service in 2025 and said it would stream an exclusive iteration of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie.

— Samantha Subin, Sarah Whitten

Nikkei hits new 34-year high after report says BOJ may not raise rates "aggressively"

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 hit a new 34-year high Thursday, rising 1.71% to 36,738.42.

The index surpassed its Jan. 22 high of 36,546.95 hit and comes after Bank of Japan's deputy governor Shinichi Uchida said the BOJ was "unlikely to raise interest rates aggressively, even after ending its negative interest rate policy," according to Reuters.

The BOJ's benchmark interest rate currently stands at -0.1%. The bank has said it would not raise rates until it sees inflation sustaining at BOJ's target of 2%.

— Lim Hui Jie

China producer and consumer prices dip again on annualized basis

China's producer prices declined for a 16th month in January, with the producer price index declining 2.5% in January from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday, slightly better than expectations for a 2.6% decline, after a 2.7% drop in December.

Consumer prices in the world's second-largest economy slipped for a fourth month, with the consumer price index falling 0.8% in January on an annual basis, more than the median estimate for a 0.5% decline in a Reuters poll. CPI slipped 0.3% in December.

On a monthly basis though, CPI climbed 0.3% in January from December, slightly weaker than median expectations for 0.4% growth.

Please read the full story for more.

— Clement Tan

SoftBank shares jump more than 8% in early trade as Arm results surpass expectations

Shares of Japanese investment holding company SoftBank surged more than 8% in morning trading after chipmaker Arm posted results that surpassed expectations.

Arm shares rocketed as much as 41% after the chip designer reported revenue and earnings that sailed past analysts' estimates, as well as giving a strong outlook for the coming quarter.

SoftBank took Arm public in September and still owns about 930 million shares, or roughly 90% of the chip designer's outstanding stock.

SoftBank's stake in Arm jumped by almost $16 billion — from close to $71.6 billion to $87.4 billion — after the earnings report. That means the gains from Arm exceeded the $14 billion losses suffered by investing in co-working space provider WeWork, which went bankrupt in November.

— Lim Hui Jie

On the brink of 5k

 At Wednesday's session high, the S&P 500 hit 4,999.89, putting it at a striking distance of the historic 5,000 threshold.

The S&P 500 first crossed and closed above 4,000 on April 21, 2021. If the large-cap benchmark hits 5,000, it will have taken almost three years to go the last 1,000 points.

— Yun Li

PayPal shares slide 5% on weak guidance

PayPal shares dropped more than 5% in extended trading after the payments company provided guidance for the full year and first quarter that fell just short of expectations.

The company anticipates full-year earnings of $5.10 per share, below the $5.48 analysts expected, according to LSEG. PayPal did beat estimates for fourth-quarter results.

— Yun Li