<p>The S&P 500 hit an intra-day record high on Thursday, fueled by gains in Facebook following its strong earnings report, while investors awaited upcoming results from Amazon.</p>.<p>Facebook Inc jumped over 6% to an all-time high after beating market expectations for quarterly revenue and profit late on Wednesday, helped by a surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic and higher ad prices.</p>.<p>Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with the communication services index jumping 2.6%, boosted by Facebook and 1.6% rise in Alphabet.</p>.<p>Apple Inc climbed 0.5% after late on Wednesday posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on strong iPhone and Mac sales.</p>.<p>Amazon was up 0.3% ahead of its quarterly report after the bell, with investors looking for signs of how the online retailer will be affected as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>"Investors are really looking for significantly outsized results, and also outsized guidance as they look ahead to upcoming quarters," said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS Investments. "We believe a lot of optimism has already been baked into the market, and we are cautioning investors to expect significant volatility."</p>.<p>Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 87% have topped analysts' earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 45% jump in profit growth.</p>.<p>U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, fueled by massive government aid to households and businesses, while a labor market report showed 553,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000 in the prior period.</p>.<p>Caterpillar Inc dipped 3.4% after it reported higher quarterly earnings but warned of supply-chain bottlenecks.</p>.<p>Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc slid 5% after posting a drop in quarterly profit.</p>.<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.53% at 33,999.33 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.51% to 4,204.66.</p>.<p>The Nasdaq Composite added 0.13% to 14,068.83.</p>.<p>Twitter Inc and Gilead Sciences Inc were each down more than 1% ahead of their quarterly reports after the market closes.</p>.<p>Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.43-to-1 ratio favored decliners.</p>.<p>The S&P 500 posted 109 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 133 new highs and 21 new lows. </p>
<p>The S&P 500 hit an intra-day record high on Thursday, fueled by gains in Facebook following its strong earnings report, while investors awaited upcoming results from Amazon.</p>.<p>Facebook Inc jumped over 6% to an all-time high after beating market expectations for quarterly revenue and profit late on Wednesday, helped by a surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic and higher ad prices.</p>.<p>Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with the communication services index jumping 2.6%, boosted by Facebook and 1.6% rise in Alphabet.</p>.<p>Apple Inc climbed 0.5% after late on Wednesday posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on strong iPhone and Mac sales.</p>.<p>Amazon was up 0.3% ahead of its quarterly report after the bell, with investors looking for signs of how the online retailer will be affected as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>"Investors are really looking for significantly outsized results, and also outsized guidance as they look ahead to upcoming quarters," said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS Investments. "We believe a lot of optimism has already been baked into the market, and we are cautioning investors to expect significant volatility."</p>.<p>Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 87% have topped analysts' earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 45% jump in profit growth.</p>.<p>U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, fueled by massive government aid to households and businesses, while a labor market report showed 553,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000 in the prior period.</p>.<p>Caterpillar Inc dipped 3.4% after it reported higher quarterly earnings but warned of supply-chain bottlenecks.</p>.<p>Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc slid 5% after posting a drop in quarterly profit.</p>.<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.53% at 33,999.33 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.51% to 4,204.66.</p>.<p>The Nasdaq Composite added 0.13% to 14,068.83.</p>.<p>Twitter Inc and Gilead Sciences Inc were each down more than 1% ahead of their quarterly reports after the market closes.</p>.<p>Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.43-to-1 ratio favored decliners.</p>.<p>The S&P 500 posted 109 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 133 new highs and 21 new lows. </p>