Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Russell 2000 achieved this rare phenomenon on Thursday

Benchmark indices on Wall Street achieved a rare phenomenon on Thursday, September 18, as all four of them, Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Smallcap Russell 2000, ended at record highs simultaneously.This is the first instance since November 2021 that all four indices have ended at record levels together. Such is the rarity of this phenomenon, that the ongoing century has only seen 25 such instances previously.

The Dow Jones ended 170 points off the day’s high but held on to gains, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, resumed their record run after a brief pause post the Fed policy.

The markets have also defied historical expectations. Data dating back decades has shown that the S&P 500 sees September as its worst month with an average 0.7% fall. However, the index is up over 2.5% this month already.In more interesting job market developments, the initial jobless claims reported on Thursday fell by the most in four years. The claims had risen to the highest since October 2021 last week. Jobless claims fell by 33,000 to 2,31,000, better than estimates of 2,40,000. Last week’s rise was confined to the state of Texas, where administrative officials call it a fraud.

All eyes today will be on the phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where both are likely to discuss the TikTok deal, lay the groundwork for a potential in-person meeting in South Korea next month, and also look to make progress on a trade deal.

Today’s session will also see the quarterly Triple Witching phenomenon, which means a simultaneous expiry of index futures, options, stock futures and options. Options worth over $5 trillion are likely to expire today. Triple Witching occurs on the third Friday of every March, June, September and December.