US stock indices rose towards new records on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 34,000 for the first time.
Strong earnings reports and improving economic data pushed the Dow up 0.8% to around 34005 during afternoon trading. The S&P 500 gained 1%, propelling both indexes ahead of record closings.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2% as stocks of major technology stocks rebounded.
A vigorous rally has pushed stocks to repeated highs in 2021, and many investors believe the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and plentiful government spending suggest stocks have room to continue to rise. The S&P 500 and Dow are both up about 11% this year.
Investors will follow earnings reports for the coming weeks as they assess how the outlook for corporate earnings aligns with increasingly higher stock prices. Analysts expect earnings for companies in the S&P 500 to be up 29% in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to FactSet.