US stocks advanced on Thursday, lifted by a rally in tech stocks as investors absorbed generally solid economic data and watched developments in Beijing, where US President Trump held a high-level meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

All three major U.S. stock indexes gained ground, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting within range of their recent ⁠record closing highs.

“Everybody’s asking the same question: How long is this (the rally) going to last? There are a lot of people who are loving this rally, but at the same time they’re ambivalent,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut. “You have to be in it to win it, not just sit on the sidelines and watch the market go to all-time highs.”

Trump attended the summit along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, chief executive of artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia.

Shares of Nvidia closed sharply higher after the US approved sales of the company’s H200 chips to Chinese companies.

The summit between Trump and Xi is intended to hash out a wide range of issues, including trade, US arms sales to Taiwan and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, through which Asia gets most of its crude, was effectively blocked during the US-Israel war over Iran.

“Obviously, these are very high-stakes meetings,” said Michael Monaghan, portfolio manager at Founders ETFs in Dallas. “It’s certainly great power competition, but I think these two economies will be better off working together.”

Monaghan added, “I’m pleased to see both leaders have a collaborative, collaborative tone, and hopefully we’ll follow that into long-term agreements.”

On the economic front, retail sales were in line with expectations, but were boosted by higher gasoline prices as a result of the Iran war. Gasoline was largely responsible for the biggest jump in import prices since October 2022.

A series of inflation reports this week pointed to the risk of rising energy costs among other goods and services, extinguishing hopes of a near-term rate cut from the US Federal Reserve.

Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmidt called inflation the biggest “pressure risk” to the US economy, which he described as “resilient.” While Schmidt is not a voter on monetary policy this year, his comments reflect the view of the Fed’s hawkish wing.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 rose 57.39 points, or 0.77%, to close at 7,501.64 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 232.88 points, or 0.88%, to close at 26,635.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 374.79 points, or 0.75%, to 50,067.99.

Cisco hit an all-time high after the computer networking giant announced nearly 4,000 job cuts as part of a restructuring plan and raised its annual revenue forecast.

US-listed shares of tech infrastructure firm Nabius Group rose after Northland Capital raised its target price by 15.3% to $248 a share.

China has agreed to buy 200 jets from Boeing, President Trump told Fox News. However, the planemaker’s stock closed lower.

The chipmaker’s US market debut marked Cerebras nearly 90% above its offering price.