Stocks advance broadly; S&P 500 hits new high

Stocks overcame a midday stumble on Wall Street to close broadly higher Thursday, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 to another record high.

The benchmark index rose 0.7% after having been down 0.2% earlier. Communications companies helped power a big part of the gain, led by a sharp rise in Facebook after the company’s quarterly report card.

Banks also helped lead the rally, outweighing a pullback in healthcare and technology stocks. Treasury yields were mixed.

Investors weighed the latest batch of company earnings reports and encouraging economic data. A report showing that the U.S. economy grew sharply in the first quarter is among the latest data pointing to an economic recovery from the recession brought on by the pandemic.

Other upbeat reports included data showing that more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in March after two months of declines.

The S&P 500 index rose 28.29 points to close at 4,211.47. The index also hit an all-time high Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 239.98 points, or 0.7%, to close at 34,060.36, while the Nasdaq composite gained 31.52 points, or 0.2%, to 14,082.55. Both indexes had also been in the red earlier.

Smaller-company stocks, which have been outperforming the broader market this year, gave back some of their recent gains. The Russell 2000 index lost 8.70 points, or 0.4%, to 2,295.46.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, massive support from the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve, and increasingly positive economic data have been driving expectations for a strong rebound for the economy and robust corporate profit growth this year. That’s helped stocks push higher and kept indexes near their all-time highs.

So far, company earnings for the first three months of the year have largely exceeded Wall Street’s expectations and stoked bullish profit outlooks for 2021.

Facebook jumped 7.3% after the social media giant reported stronger-than-expected results.

The strong economic reports helped nudge some bond yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.64% from 1.62% on Wednesday.