stocks advanced thursday turning green after house speaker kevin mccarthy told reporters that the house of representatives could vote on a debtceiling deal as soon as next week the sp 500 rose 09 to close at its highest level since aug 25 the nasdaq composite added 15 while the dow jones industrial average edged higher 03 investors have been seeking confirmation that debtceiling talks are progressing after president biden helped boost sentiment on wednesday by expressing confidence that a default would be avoided treasury secretary janet yellen has warned that absent a deal to raise the borrowing cap the government could become unable to pay its bills on time by june 1 following mccarthy’s remarks senate majority leader chuck schumer said negotiations are “currently making progress” and told colleagues to be ready to come back to washington on 24 hours’ notice for a potential vote next week when the senate is scheduled to be on recess “congress will likely raise the debt ceiling possibly through the presidential election meaning the market won’t likely have to contend with it until early 2025” said art hogan chief market strategist at b riley wealth management treasury yields rose after weekly initial jobless claims fell and came in below expectations continuing claims dropped to the lowest level since early march the labor market continues to prove its resiliency—forcing some traders to secondguess their bets on the federal reserve pausing rate increases the 10year treasury yield rose to 3647 closing higher for a fifth straight day many analysts expect that for inflation to go back near the central bank’s 2 target unemployment will have to rise “the job market is clearly less overheated than a year ago but it is still extremely tight” comerica bank chief economist bill adams wrote in a note to clients thursday “leading indicators of the job market like jobless claims that were sending warning signals a few months ago have improved in recent weeks” large technology companies helped drive markets higher thursday as they have for much of the year the nasdaq100 an index of the 100 largest nonfinancial companies traded on the techheavy nasdaq exchange closed at its highest level in more than a year apple microsoft nvidia netflix and googleparent alphabet all closed at fresh 52week highs netflix shares rallied 92 chip maker nvidia the sp 500’s best performer this year added to gains closing up 5 in earnings walmart reported an increase in sales and lifted its fullyear outlook an indication that us consumers are going bargain hunting shares of the nation’s largest retailer closed up 13 “consumer spending is shifting right now and moving away from pricier goods with a renewed focus on staples where walmart’s lowercost offerings are attractive” said david trainer ceo of investment research firm new constructs gold prices fell for a third day to 195650 per troy ounce the lowest level since march oil prices fell with brent crude dropping 14 to 7586 per barrel overseas stocks rose the stoxx europe 600 added 04 japan’s nikkei 225 rose 16 and the shanghai composite index was 04 higher