Wall Street rallied on Thursday morning, as a strong semiconductor sector and solid economic indicators enabled the Dow Jones and S&P 500 to set new records.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones advanced by more than 0.2% to 43,184.9 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1% to 18,391.9 points. The S&P gained 0.2% to 5,851.8 points.

The early part of the session was dominated by semiconductor manufacturers such as Micron Technology (+3%), Broadcom (+2.9%) and Nvidia (+2.5%), as TSMC, the world's number-one outsourced chipmaker, raised its targets.

According to figures relayed by Stocklytics.com, Nvidia, TSMC and Broadcom have between them seen their capitalization grow by a cumulative $2.7 trillion this year, twice as much as last year at the same stage.

These encouraging forecasts will reassure investors about the health of the technology sector, after the scare caused on Tuesday by the profit warning issued by Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML.

The numerous economic indicators published this morning reinforced this feeling of confidence, confirming the scenario of a "soft landing" for growth.

According to the Commerce Department, retail sales rose by 0.4% on a sequential basis in September, testifying to the healthy state of consumer spending.

After rising for two weeks, weekly jobless claims fell again last week (-19.000 to 241,000), a further sign of the labor market's resilience.

On the industrial front, the Philly Fed index measuring manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region rose for the second month running, more than offsetting the announcement of a 0.3% drop in industrial production in September.

The Dow's biggest riser, insurance company Travelers, climbed more than 7% after significantly outperforming market estimates with its third-quarter results.

Not all stocks benefited from this positive context.

Netflix shares were down 1.5% ahead of the release of its quarterly results later this evening.

On the currency markets, the dollar is up against the euro, which is suffering from the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to cut rates again, with a possible fourth rate cut in December.

This reaction favors a rise in Treasury bond yields on Thursday: the ten-year bond yield rises above 4.09%.

Oil prices are back on the rise, supported by last week's announcement of a drop in weekly oil inventories, enabling a barrel of US light crude to remain above the $70 mark, rising by 0.5% to $70.7.

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