S&P 500 tops 4,000 for the first time to start April, tech shares lead gains; European markets close higher, led by tech shares; Atos slumps 12% 
The S&P 500 crossed the 4,000 threshold for the first time on Thursday as Wall Street built on a solid March following the rollout of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan. 
The broad equity benchmark rose 1% to a fresh intraday record high of 4,013.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 164 points. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.6%. Alphabet and Microsoft gained more than 2% each, while Amazon, Facebook and Netflix all rose over 1%. 
Microsoft shares advanced on news that the software giant will deliver to the U.S. Army more than 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headset. The contract will be worth $21.9 billion over 10 years. 
In deal news, Micron Technology and Western Digital are said to be exploring a deal to buy Japanese semiconductor firm Kioxia for about $30 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Micron shares jumped more than 5% on the news, while Western Digital was up about 4.8%. 
On the data front, an index of U.S. manufacturing activity jumped to a reading of 64.7 last month from 60.8 in February, according to the Institute for Supply Management. That was the highest level since December 1983. 
Meanwhile, investors digested a worse-than-expected reading on weekly jobless claims. First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 27 totaled 719,000, higher than 675,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the session up 0.6%, with tech stocks climbing 2% to lead gains as almost all sectors and major bourses closed in positive territory. 
British rival Deliveroo sank another 2% in its second day of trading. Shares of the company flopped in its debut Wednesday, shedding as much as 30%. 
At the bottom of the index, French IT firm Atos plunged more than 12% after an audit found accounting errors at two of its U.S. units. 
Source: CNBC