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

• Trump’s deregulation plans and a giant 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 out on Thursday, with stocks trading mixed and the S&P 500 dipping after it approached record highs in the primary week of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s plans to usher in a wave of deregulation have helped boost “animal spirits” on Wall Street, pushing stock prices higher.

A $500 billion investment announcement for AI infrastructure has also juiced technology stocks this week, however the Nasdaq 100 gave up a few of those gains and declined by about half of a percent in Thursday’s trading session.

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

But top of mind for investors this week and for the approaching weeks are fourth-quarter earnings results.

With 14% of S&P 500 corporations having reported results to this point, 78% are beating profit estimates by a median of 6%, in response to data from Fundstrat.

The large earnings show will begin next week, when mega-cap tech corporations, including Apple, Meta Platforms, and Tesla set to report results.

Investors are also bracing for the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week. While markets expect the central bank to depart rates unchanged, commentary from Fed officials could move markets in the event that they indicate any change in the trail of rates of interest relative to what markets are pricing in for this 12 months.

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

Here’s what else is occurring:

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil was higher by 0.05% to $75.48 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.10%, at $79.08 a barrel.

• Gold declined 0.75% to $2,750.00 an oz..

• The ten-year Treasury yield jumped 5 basis points to 4.665%.

• Bitcoin declined 1.07% to $102,556.

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