The Nasdaq technology-focussed stock index closed at a record high today – another boost for investors and Americans’ 401(K) retirement accounts.

It took more than two years to break the record set in November 2021.

The S&P 500 also closed higher on Thursday – which, like the Nasdaq was buoyed by tech stocks linked to AI.

Both indices were also helped by inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials that made it more likley there will an interest rate cut in June more likely. 

For the average American, their main exposure to the stock market is likely in their retirement plan, as most 401(K) accounts have some money invested in these benchmark indices.

The Nasdaq finished at a record high – the first record finish since November 2021

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is now the 20th richest man on the planet with a net worth of $69.7 billion

Homes in the elusive neighborhood cost tens of millions of dollars and you can count tech giants Larry Ellison and David Sachs as neighbors

Chipmaker Nvidia advanced as the biggest boost to the benchmark S&P index and Nasdaq while smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices surged. 

Those and other technology companies have been the centerpiece of a Wall Street rally in recent months, fueled by optimism over growth prospects related to artificial intelligence.

Dell Technologies, which sells AI-optimized servers made with Nvidia’s high-end processors, rose ahead of its report after the bell.

Nvidia shares have been on a tear over the past year – and company achieved a market cap of $2 trillion as investors continue to drive up the value of its share price following blockbuster earnings. 

On one day last week, shares rose 13 percent – and lead to the biggest single day increase in value for a company as it added $150 billion to its maket cap.

The company was founded and still run by Jensen Huang – who has gone from minimum wage at Denny’s to living in a $44M mansion on San Fran’s Billionaires’ Row.

Traders added to bets the Fed will cut rates in June, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, after a Commerce Department report showed US prices picked up in January in line with expectations, while annual inflation was the smallest in three years.

There were fears inflation would be higher than expected – as had happened in recent reports. 

‘Without kind of a hawkish surprise here, which it wasn’t, it was soft or at least in line, then there’s no real reason for the market to expect the Fed to get more hawkish than they already outlined,’ said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.

‘It doesn’t matter what you think they should do. It’s what they say they’re going to do and once again, the market has been wrestled back into line to where the Fed said they’d be.’

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 27.78 points, or 0.51%, to end at 5,095.78 points. 

The Nasdaq Composite gained 144.19 points, or 0.90%, to 16,091.93. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.07 points, or 0.07%, to 38,973.09.

Each of the three major indexes registered a gain for February, their fourth straight monthly advance.

Atlanta Fed President and voting member Raphael Bostic stressed taking data-dependent approach to monetary policy, saying it was going to be a bumpy path to the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target, and repeated his view that he sees the central bank cutting rates ‘in the summer months.’

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said the improvements made last year in the supply of goods and the labor market paved the way for inflation declines this year, indicating he remains supportive of rate cuts later this year.

Reports on consumer and producer prices earlier in February, which pointed to stubborn inflation, had led investors to dial back expectations of rate cuts to June. 

At the beginning of this year, traders viewed March as the likely starting point for the Fed’s easing cycle.

The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index increased 0.4 percent between December and January

Current Federal Reserve benchmark interest rates are between 5.25 and 5.5 percent and have been at that elevated level since last summer. Cuts are not not expected until June

Meanwhile, initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 24 stood at 215,000, greater than expectations of 210,000, economists polled by Reuters said.

Gains on the Dow were held in check, weighed down in part by a fall in Boeing after a report of a probe by the Department of Justice.

Snowflake slumped after the cloud data analytics company forecast first-quarter product revenue below Wall Street estimates and said CEO Frank Slootman was retiring.

Paramount Global climbed after the media conglomerate posted a surprise profit on streaming gains.