• The rally in US stocks stalled on Thursday after the S&P 500 neared record highs.

• Trump’s deregulation plans and a big AI investment announcement helped boost stock prices this week.

• Investors are focused on fourth-quarter earnings and an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.

The rally in US stocks stalled on Thursday, with stocks trading mixed S&P 500 fall after it hit record highs in the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s plans to start a wave of deregulation have helped drive that “animal spirits” on Wall Street, driving up stock prices.

A $500 billion investment announcement for AI infrastructure has also benefited tech stocks this week, but the Nasdaq 100 gave up some of those gains and was down about half a percent in Thursday’s trading session.

Investors digested initial jobless claims on Thursday, which rose slightly from the previous week’s reading to 223,000 from 217,000. That was slightly higher than economists’ estimates of 221,000.

But the most important thing for investors this week and the coming weeks are fourth quarter results.

With 14% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings year-to-date, 78% are beating earnings estimates by an average of 6%, according to Fundstrat data.

The big earnings show begins next week, when big-cap tech companies including Apple, Meta Platforms and Tesla start reporting results.

Investors are also gearing up for the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week. While markets expect the central bank to leave rates unchanged, comments from Fed officials could move markets if they signal any change in the path of interest rates relative to what markets are pricing in for this year .

Here’s where U.S. indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

Here’s what else is happening:

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate Crude oil rose 0.05% to $75.48 a barrel. Crude Brentthe international benchmark rose 0.10% to $79.08 a barrel.

• gold declined 0.75% to $2,750.00 an ounce.

• The 10-year Treasury yield rose 5 basis points to 4.665%.

• Bitcoin declined 1.07% to $102,556.

Read the original article at Business Insider