The S&P 500 shook off the December doldrums to touch a new intraday high of 6,100.81 on Thursday. It’s also just a hair away from its all-time closing high.The S&P 500 shook off the December doldrums to touch a new intraday high of 6,100.81 on Thursday. It’s also just a hair away from its all-time closing high.
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Animal spirits in markets
U.S. markets popped on Wednesday. The S&P 500DAX indexto close at an all-time high the second time this week. It was boosted by Adidasfourth-quarter sales.
Dimon says tariffs aren’t all bad
JPMorgan Chaselead to positive outcomes, despite fears of higher prices and trade wars. “If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it,” Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday at Davos, alongside comments on “hugg[ing[ it out” with Elon Musk and the stock market being “kind of inflated.”
Trump threatens Russia with tariffs
If Russia does not end its war against Ukraine, the country might be the next target of U.S. tariffs, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States,” Trump wrote.
Musk undercuts Trump’s Stargate
Musk dismissed the Stargate project, a joint venture between OpenAI, OracleSoftbank to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, that Trump announced Tuesday. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote Tuesday in response to an OpenAI post on X, undermining Trump’s announcement.
[PRO] Diversify away from U.S. stocks: Morgan Stanley
With the S&P 500 index touching a new all-time high Wednesday, U.S. stocks remaining pricey and valuations appearing stretched, investors should make sure to keep a diversified portfolio, according to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The bank advised investors to invest in these assets instead of overconcentrating in U.S. stocks.
The bottom line
The S&P 500 shook off the December doldrums to touch a new intraday high of 6,100.81 on Thursday. While the broad-based index pulled back to 6,086.37 when the closing bell rang, it’s just a hair away from its all-time high of 6,090.27.
It marks a change in gear from December, during which the S&P lost 2.5% as expectations of fewer rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve reverberated through the market. Technology stocks — no surprises there — were the main driver of the benchmark’s advance on Thursday.
Shares such as Oracle and NvidiaNetflixsurge in fourth-quarter earnings and paid memberships. It seemed like the stock market was shifting lanes back to the heyday of 2024, when the S&P broke over 50 closing records.
Jamie Dimon, however, is striking a more cautious tone.
“Asset prices are kind of inflated, by any measure. They are in the top 10% or 15%” of historical valuations, Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He’s not necessarily suggesting that brakes will be slammed or an impact is imminent, but that there needs to be a firm base of support to sustain such horsepower behind stocks.
“You need fairly good outcomes to justify those prices,” Dimon said. “Having pro-growth strategies helps make that happen, but there are negatives out there, and they can tend to surprise you.”
That notion’s echoed by J.P. Morgan’s asset management division.
“The number one risk that we’re looking at heading into this year are the valuations, which is why we feel very strongly that you need to have earnings back this up,” Phil Camporeale, multi-asset portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
While Trump’s pro-business and low-tax policies might provide the ignition spark, corporations, ultimately, are the engine that keep stocks going.
— CNBC’s Samatha Subin, Alex Harring and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
