Stocks were little changed on Thursday, easing from record levels, as investors digested a tariff cut from China along with a raft of earnings and solid economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 26.99 points to 29,317.84, after hitting a record high at the open.
The S&P 500 added 7.29 points at 3,342.12,
The NASDAQ took on 33.92 points to 9,542.60.
The corporate earnings season continued with Twitter and and Bristol-Myers Squibb releasing their quarterly numbers. Twitter shares jumped more than 12% on its results while Bristol traded higher by 1.8%.
More than 60% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far, with 71% of them beating analyst expectations. The overall earnings growth rate has been low, but it is better than the more-than 4% contraction initially expected.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims stateside fell to a nine-month low last week, reaching 202,000. The data follows better-than-forecast private payrolls numbers from ADP and Moody's Analytics.
China announced overnight it will halve tariffs on U.S. imports totaling about $75 billion. China's finance ministry said the tariff cut was timed in conjunction with a U.S. decision last month to halve tariffs on roughly $120 billion worth of Chinese products.
Tariffs on some U.S. goods will be cut from 10% to 5%, and from 5% to 2.5% on others, which will take effect on Feb. 14.
That decision was made as part of a broader “phase one” trade deal between China and the U.S. The agreement put the U.S.-China trade war, which had been hurting global growth prospects, on hold. President Donald Trump has said previously a phase-two agreement would be struck at a later date.
The cut also comes after the coronavirus death toll in China rose to 563, with a total of 28,018 cases confirmed as drugmakers race to find a vaccine.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury hesitated a bit, raising yields to 1.66% closer to Wednesday's 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked up three cents to $50.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices advanced $4.10 to $1,566.90 U.S. an ounce.