Stocks opened higher Thursday and stayed there through the close. The technology and communications services sectors outperformed as several Magnificent 7 stocks rallied, most notably Nvidia ( NVDA ) .  

The red-hot chipmaker rose 4.5% Thursday, easily the best performer of the mega-cap stocks. Meta Platforms ( META ) came in a distant second with its 3.3% gain. Apple (AAPL), on the other hand, slipped 0.1%, with the Dow Jones stock extending its losing streak to seven days.

The strength in most of the Mag 7 stocks helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surge 1.5% to 16,273, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.0% to 5,157 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 38,791.

GE rallies on stock buyback news

In other single-stock news, General Electric ( GE ) jumped 4.4% after the company's GE Aerospace division disclosed a new $15 billion stock buyback program. GE Aerospace will become a standalone unit on April 2 when the former industrial conglomerate splits into two separate companies.

GE Vernova, which houses General Electric's ( GE ) gas power and renewable units, will trade under the ticker GEV, while GE Aerospace will continue under the GE ticker. GE HealthCare Technologies ( GEHC ) was spun off in January 2023.

GE stock, which was once the longest-serving member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has done well on the price charts recently as Wall Street cheers the upcoming spin-off. Over the past 12 months, shares are up more than 88%.

Victoria's Secret has its worst day ever

Victoria's Secret (VSCO) was another notable mover, plunging 29.7% after earnings. While the women's apparel and beauty products retailer reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on in-line revenue, it gave weak first-quarter and full-year revenue guidance.

The company's forecast "assumes the broader intimates market in North America will remain pressured throughout the first and second quarters," said Martin Waters, CEO of Victoria's Secret, in the earnings call. VSCO anticipates that sales trends will improve in the second half of the year, Martin adds.

Powell wraps up congressional testimony

In economic news, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell wrapped up his two-day congressional testimony. Today's commentary in front of the Senate Banking Committee was little changed from Wednesday's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. 

Specifically, Powell maintained his message that the Fed must be confident that inflation is making a sustainable move toward its 2% target before it considers rate cuts, though he added that it's "not far" from having the confidence to do so.

Meanwhile, ahead of tomorrow's February jobs report, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims were unchanged last week at 217,000.