S&P 500 closes modestly higher, a hair’s breadth away from hitting a new record

Stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 finishing the session just inches away from a fresh record.

The broad market index rose 0.80% to close at 6,141.02, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.97% to 20,167.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 404.41 points, or 0.94%, to finish the session at 43,386.84.

— Brian Evans

Bitcoin miners jumped on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported Core Scientific is in talks to be acquired by the AI company CoreWeave, validating the value of mining infrastructure as a high value asset not just for bitcoin but for artificial intelligence.

So called hybrid miners, those that have expanded their operations to include AI, rallied on the news. Core Scientific soared 36%, while Iren advanced 11% and Terawulf surged 18%. CoreWeave was little changed.

CoreWeave and Core Scientific have an ongoing business partnership. Around this time last year, CoreWeave tried unsuccessfully to buy the bitcoin miner.

— Tanaya Macheel

Jefferies moved off the sidelines on Kinross Gold, citing its free cash flow.

Analyst Fahad Tariq upgraded the gold mining stock to buy from hold. Tariq also raised the price target by $4 to $18, which now suggests 17.6% upside.

"The main reason we are upgrading KGC is because of its impressive FCF yield in 2025/26, which sets it apart from its senior gold peers and allows for increased buybacks," Tariq wrote to clients.

Shares rose more than 2% in Thursday's session.

— Alex Harring

The July tariff deadline that has been a key overhang for markets is not as serious as previously thought, according to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

"The deadline is not critical," Leavitt said. "Perhaps it could be extended, but that's a decision for the president to make."

— Brian Evans

Bitcoin ETFs have collectively seen about $3.5 billion in inflows this month and are on pace for their ninth week of inflows in the last 11. But the price of bitcoin itself has risen just 2%, according to Coin Metrics.

One reason could be that despite interest in bitcoin remaining at elevated levels, early megawhales are holding on to their coins for longer, waiting to offload them in greater amounts to today's biggest bitcoin buyers, ETFs and corporate treasuries, according to 10x Research.

"There is this change of ownership happening," said Markus Thielen, CEO of the digital assets investment research firm. "We are not seeing a lot of real demand right now because the demand has been almost perfectly offset by the selling from these larger wallets."

For the full breakdown, check out the full story on CNBC Pro.

— Tanaya Macheel

Stablecoin issuer Circle advanced 12% Thursday, after losing about 15% earlier over the past two days amid heightened post-IPO volatility and as investors weigh speculation around crypto regulation and the upcoming Fed rate decision.

With Circle still hot off its IPO, its investors may have rotated into Coinbase, which gained 15% in the same two days Circle fell. Coinbase, has also received a batch of price target increases this week from Wall Street including from Bernstein and Oppenheimer.

Coinbase gained more than 5% Thursday.

For more, read our full story here.

— Tanaya Macheel

Markets are now keenly focusing on medium-term issues on Capital Hill, according to Deutsche Bank.

"With markets holding steady, we're now at a point where the focus is turning to several important catalysts over the next two to three weeks," macro strategist Henry Allen wrote on Thursday. "The first is the US tax bill, which is currently working its way through the Senate, and the administration is trying to get it passed by Independence Day on July 4."

"[T]he focus is set to swiftly turn back to tariffs, as the 90-day extension to the reciprocal tariffs ends in less than two weeks' time on July 9," he added. "As it stands, it's still unclear what will happen at that point, although several countries remain in negotiations with the U.S."

— Brian Evans

The S&P 500 is flirting with a new record high, but the Russell 2000 may soon make a milestone of its own, according to Wolfe Research.

Analyst Rob Ginsberg highlighted 2,170 as a key area to watch for small-cap index. That is about 1.6% above Wednesday's close.

"We are hard pressed to believe R2K can't rally some 25 pts from here and trigger that breakout signal investors are waiting for. Doing so would provide additional bullish confirmation for equities going into the summer months," Ginsberg wrote.

— Jesse Pound

The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF is hitting an all-time high Thursday, its first since June 9, putting it on pace for its third monthly gain in a row. Rocket Lab, AeroVironment, Karman Holdings, Loar Holdings and Archer Aviation are leading the group higher.

Rocket Lab, AeroVironment and Karman shares have hit all-time highs intraday. These smaller players have produced double-digit gains that have outpaced their larger counterparts. Rocket Lab shares have gained nearly 45% year to date, while AeroVironment is up about 75% over the same period. Karman has gained 68% in 2025. By comparison, Boeing has gained 15% year to date, Northrop Grumman is up nearly 6%, while Lockheed is down nearly 5% year to date.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Microsoft is beginning to see real benefits from its heavy investments in OpenAI, according to Morgan Stanley.

"While investors continue to debate the 'Return on Investment' of rising capital expenditures, we see the yields on Microsoft's investments in Generative AI becoming increasingly apparent, both in terms of direct monetization and driving further IT wallet share gains for the broader portfolio," analyst Keith Weiss wrote.

— Brian Evans

Stocks opened higher on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 hovering near a record high.

The broad market index added 0.32%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.35%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 223 points, or 0.5%.

— Brian Evans

The S&P 500 is nearing both its intraday and closing records.

The broad index is about 0.9% away from its all-time closing high of 6,144.15. It's also around 0.9% off its record intraday high of 6,147.43.

Both of those records were set in February.

— Alex Harring

Initial unemployment claims were lower than expected while the economy grew at a slower than thought pace in the first quarter and orders for long-lasting goods rebounded strongly in May, according to separate reports released Thursday.

The data at a glance:

• Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 236,000 for the week ending June 21, according to the Labor Department. That was below the 244,000 estimate, though continuing claims held at their highest since November 2021.
• Durable goods orders, which includes items such as airplanes, appliances and computers, surged 16.4% in May after falling 6.6% in April, the Commerce Department said. Excluding transportation, orders increased just 0.5%, though they were still up 15.5% excluding defense. The headline number was much better than the 7.5% estimate.
• First-quarter gross domestic product contracted at a 0.5% annualized pace, according to the last of three Commerce Department estimates that was lower than the 0.2% decline previously reported. The department attributed the fall to downward revisions in consumer spending and exports, offset somewhat by a downward revision to imports.

—Jeff Cox

Here are a few of the stocks making notable moves ahead of the opening bell:

Micron Technology — The chipmaker rose 2% after its fiscal-third quarter financial results topped expectations. Micron's adjusted earnings were $1.91 per share, versus the $1.60 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $9.3 billion, above the $8.87 billion consensus estimate.

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions — The military tech stock fell nearly 7% after Kratos said it would sell $500 million of stock. The company said the money raised could be used for capital spending, among other uses.

McCormick — The food spices stock rose more than 4% after adjusted earnings for the second quarter beat expectations. McCormick earned 69 cents per share, excluding items, while analysts were looking for 66 cents, according to LSEG.

Check out more movers here.

— Jesse Pound

In a Thursday note, Citi upgraded Truist Financial to a buy rating from neutral. Analyst Keith Horowitz accompanied the upgrade by lifting his target price to $55 per share from $44.

Shares of Truist Financial are down 5% on the year.

"Too much value on table to ignore," Horowitz wrote. "We see tailwinds from ability to increase in buy backs due to strong capital position and cheap share price relative to intrinsic value."

A rebound in capital markets activity leading fee growth could further boost shares of Truist Financial, especially as the company's return on tangible common equity increases over the next two years. Horowitz added that Truist also looks attractive from a valuation standpoint.

"The stock continues to trade at a discount to our universe on our implied cost of equity metric and sentiment is increasingly bearish, setting relative bar and creating an attractive entry point," he said.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Citizens Bank believes that Penn Entertainment is reaching a turning point for the better.

In a Thursday note, analyst Jordan Bender upgraded the gambling stock to a market outperform rating from market perform. He simultaneously introduced a price target of $24, implying the stock could rally 38% from here.

Shares of Penn Entertainment have slipped 12% in 2025.

"After several years of overpromising and underdelivering, leading to a bloated cost structure and balance sheet, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Several catalysts, including casino openings/growth and shareholder returns, should bridge PENN into 2026, whereby the digital business turns into a call option for value, in our view," he wrote. "The stock is down 87% from its all-time high (Russell 3000 -1%), yet we are nearing an inflection point in the story whereby we see 38% upside in shares."

Bender added that current-quarter data has highlighted resiliency for Penn, despite a turbulent economic backdrop. Meanwhile, the company is also positioned as one of the "more favorable regional gaming companies in the space."

— Lisa Kailai Han

The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Thursday to its lowest level in more than three years.

The move comes as President Donald Trump is reportedly toying with nominating current Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's replacement as soon as the fall, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The dollar index was last at roughly 97. The euro ticked up against the dollar and hit its highest level since September 2021.

The greenback has pulled back more than 10% so far in 2025.

— Brian Evans, Nick Wells

The major averages are within reach of their all-time highs. Here's how far they are from those levels:

• S&P 500: 0.9% below
• Nasdaq Composite: 1.1% below
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 4.6% below

— Fred Imbert

To say Wall Street isn't a fan of Zohran Mamdani would be an understatement.

In fact, high-profile investors and business leaders in the Big Apple are up in arms about the stunning win by the democratic socialist in the primary to win the Democratic nomination to serve as the next New York City mayor. The three-term Assemblymember's potential victory in the November general election could bring what the Street hates most — tax hikes and tighter regulation threatening corporate and investment interests.

Philippe Laffont, founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, told CNBC that a Mamdani win could trigger another exodus of wealthy investors. Since the pandemic, a wave of wealthy residents and institutional firms have fled the nation's largest city for low-tax states such as Florida and Texas.

"Some people are going to, for sure, go," Laffont said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Wednesday after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the Democratic nomination. "It's not quite done yet. There's still an election. Maybe Cuomo will re-enter as an independent."

Read the full story here.

— Yun Li, Alex Harring

Some stocks are making sizable moves in extended trading Wednesday:

• Micron – The maker of memory and storage products rose almost 4% after its fiscal third-quarter results topped analysts' expectations. Micron posted adjusted earnings of $1.91 per share on $9.30 billion in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG were calling for $1.60 per share and $8.87 billion in revenue. The company's fourth-quarter guidance also came in better than expected.
• H.B. Fuller – The stock jumped more than 6% following the adhesive manufacturing company's latest quarterly results. The company's adjusted earnings of $1.18 per share topped the analyst estimate of $1.08 a share, per FactSet. H.B. Fuller's full-year earnings forecast also came in strong.
• Kratos Defense & Security Solutions – Shares tumbled nearly 7%. On Wednesday, the IT security company announced plans for an underwritten public offering of $500 million of its common stock.

Click here to read the complete list.

— Sean Conlon

U.S. stock futures opened flat on Wednesday evening.

S&P 500 futures, along with Nasdaq 100 futures, traded just below the flatline shortly after 6pm ET. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were also flat.

— Sean Conlon