S&P 500 Nears Record High, Dow Jumps as Airline Stocks Take Off

July 10- Stocks inched higher on Thursday as U.S. benchmarks hovered near all?time peaks, buoyed by gains in cyclical sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 1%, while the S&P 500 was up roughly 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite slipped marginally.

Investors remained optimistic after Nvidia NVDA briefly became the first company to top a $4 trillion market value, pushing the Nasdaq to fresh intraday highs.

Uncertainty over trade policy lingered after President Donald Trump delayed reciprocal tariffs until Aug. 1. The prospect of a 50% levy on Brazilian imports and a similar rate on copper extended market jitters.

Airline shares led sector gains after Delta Air Lines DAL beat expectations and reinstated its full?year outlook. United Airlines (UAL) surged 15%, Delta and American Airlines (AAL) each jumped more than 12%, and Southwest Airlines LUV climbed 8%.

In tech, Tesla TSLA added 2.5%, extending recent volatility, while Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon.com AMZN saw modest advances.

Markets may find direction ahead of next week's jobs data and fresh corporate earnings.