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

The S&P 500 rose to within a whisker of a new record Thursday, the culmination of a stunning comeback from lows set in April as the benchmark overcame a wall of worries that included tariff fights, wars and sticky inflation.

The broad market index climbed 0.8% to close at 6,141.02, bringing its gain on the week to 2.9% and putting it just a few points away from the intraday all-time high hit in late February of 6,147.43. The Nasdaq Composite

 advanced 0.97% to 20,167.91, itself inches away from a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 404.41 points, or 0.94%, to 43,386.84.

Stocks rose to their highs of the session after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt played down the July tariff deal deadlines that have been looming over markets.

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

July 8 is when the so-called liberation day tariffs are set to take effect after a 90-day pause, and July 9 is the deadline for an EU deal to avoid 50% tariffs.

Leavitt’s comments further validated a main reason behind the surprising comeback from the market’s low in April: That President Donald Trump would never actually implement those supersized “liberation day” tariffs, which he eventually pushed off after they sent the markets reeling.

Still-strong corporate earnings, a stable labor market and a rekindling of the artificial intelligence trade have also contributed to the turnaround for U.S equities. The S&P 500 is up more than 27% from its intraday low for the year after nearly closing in a bear market during the height of the tariff fears in April. After making the round trip, the benchmark is up more than 4% for 2025 so far, reclaiming some of the optimism about the economy and Trump policies that took it to a new high on Feb. 19.