Major U.S. Stock Indices Rise on Strong Earnings Reports

U.S. stocks gained on Thursday, led by Meta Platforms and Tesla. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%.

Meta and Tesla surged after releasing strong earnings reports, boosting market sentiment. However, Microsoft tempered the gains after reporting slower-than-expected growth in its cloud business.

The U.S. economy grew at a solid pace in Q4 2023, but slightly below expectations. This led to a slight easing in Treasury yields.

Index Performance:

* S&P 500: +31.86 points (+0.5%) to 6,071.17
* Dow Jones Industrial Average: +168.61 points (+0.4%) to 44,882.13
* Nasdaq Composite: +49.43 points (+0.3%) to 19,681.75
* Russell 2000: +24.36 points (+1.1%) to 2,307.45

Week-to-Date:

* S&P 500: -30.07 points (-0.5%)
* Dow Jones Industrial Average: +457.88 points (+1%)
* Nasdaq Composite: -272.55 points (-1.4%)
* Russell 2000: -0.29 points (less than -0.1%)

Year-to-Date:

* S&P 500: +189.54 points (+3.2%)
* Dow Jones Industrial Average: +2,337.91 points (+5.5%)
* Nasdaq Composite: +370.96 points (+1.9%)
* Russell 2000: +77.29 points (+3.5%)