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US weekly jobless claims unchanged

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Semiconductor index hits fresh record high

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Indexes up: Dow 0.33%, S&P 0.87%, Nasdaq 1.25%

(Updated at 11:38 a.m. ET/1638 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Amruta Khandekar

March 7 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes climbed on Thursday, with the

Nasdaq leading the charge supported by chipmakers, while the

benchmark S&P 500 hit an intraday record high as investors

remained upbeat about the prospects of the Fed's interest rate

cut in June.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index hit a fresh

record high and was last up 3.2%, with Qualcomm ( QCOM ) leading

chipmakers' rally.

Nine the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with rate-sensitive

information technology stocks up 1.5% and in the lead.

Most megacap growth and technology stocks also advanced,

with Meta and AI darling Nvidia ( NVDA ) up 2.7% and

3.4%, respectively.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday the

U.S. central bank is "not far" from getting enough confidence

that inflation is heading to the Fed's 2% goal to be able to

start interest-rate cuts.

This followed his appearance before the House Financial

Services Committee on Wednesday at which the Fed chair said

interest rate cuts are still likely in the coming months, while

also repeating that ongoing progress in lowering inflation was

"not assured."

The comments kept alive investors' expectations of a rate

cut in June, giving a boost to U.S equities which had faltered

in the days leading up to the testimony.

Meanwhile, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said the U.S.

economy is not at the point where the central bank should reduce

interest rates.

All eyes will remain on Powell who is set to wrap up his

two-day testimony on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment

benefits was unchanged last week as the labor market continued

to gradually ease, the Labor Department's data showed.

The data comes ahead of the crucial nonfarm payrolls report,

which could provide further details on the strength of the U.S.

labor market on Friday.

"While the Fed has said it no longer needs the labor market

to weaken significantly in order to cut rates, the market may be

encouraged by this type of data," said Chris Larkin, managing

director for trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan

Stanley.

"But that sentiment could evaporate quickly if

tomorrow's monthly jobs report fails to point in the same

direction."

At 11:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 125.82 points, or 0.33%, at 38,786.87, the S&P 500

was up 44.25 points, or 0.87%, at 5,149.01, and the

Nasdaq Composite was up 199.87 points, or 1.25%, at

16,231.41.

Lingerie maker Victoria's Secret & Co dropped 30.4%

on a weak annual forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.99-to-1

ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 74 new 52-week highs and one new

low, while the Nasdaq recorded 95 new highs and 55 new lows.