Dow hits a record high

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked to a historic high just ahead of the noon hour on Thursday. The 128 point gain, or 0.7%, has run the DJIA above the 18,600 level for the first time on record. Additionally, both the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Nasdaq (+0.5%) hold onto solid gains.

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Notable strength can be seen in retailers after a number of strong earnings reports from the sector. In particular, Macy's reported earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $5.87 billion, and said it would shutter approximately 100 stores across the US. Here's a look at the retail scoreboard as of 12:14 p.m. ET.

• Macy's: +16.6%
• Ralph Lauren: +5.4%
• Nordstrom: +6.8%
• Dillard's: +5.8%
• Kohl's: +14.4%
• JC Penney: +7.7%

Elsewhere, the rally in stocks is dragging crude oil higher. West Texas Intermediate crude oil is up 3.7% at $43.27 per barrel despite the August International Energy Agency report out on Thursday saying a "dimmer macroeconomic outlook" would weigh on energy demand for 2017. Additionally, the IEA update showed that oil supplies increased substantially over the past month.

US Treasurys are under pressure. Selling across the complex has yields higher by as much as 4 basis points. Thursday's selling has run the US 10-year yield up to 1.54% while swinging the yield curve a bit steeper to 83.5 basis points.

A quiet day in foreign exchange has the US Dollar Index drifting little changed. Thursday's big mover is the New Zealand dollar, which is stronger by 0.5% at .7242 despite the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cutting its key interest rate to a record low 2.00% and suggesting "current projections and assumptions indicate that further policy easing will be required to ensure that future inflation settles near the middle of the target range."