S&P 500 HITS NEW ALL-TIME HIGH
The S&P 500 was trading as high as 1,992.35 on Thursday morning.
Overall, however, stocks were mixed, with the Dow leading gains up 72 points as the blue chip index moved back above 17,000.
The Nasdaq, however, was down 3 points.
On Thursday, the weekly report on initial jobless claims beat expectations, falling to 298,000 from last week's revised reading for 312,000.
U.S. manufacturing reports came in better than expected, with both the Philly Fed's manufacturing report and Markit's flash PMI beating expectations.
Housing data was also strong, as existing home sales jumped 2.4% to an annualized rate of 5.15 million units in July.