U.S. stocks benchmarks on Thursday were trading slightly higher at the start of the day's action, but the tepidness of gains reflected investors' inability to find fresh catalysts to take stocks much higher after rattling off a series of all-time highs.

Investors appeared to be unfazed by the widely anticipated impeachment of President Donald Trump by the House of Representatives late Wednesday, with market participants awaiting further details on a phase-one China-U.S. trade pact announced last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67 points, or 0.2%, at 28,306, the S&P 500 index advanced 0.1% at 3,195, while the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.2% at 8,849, carving out a fresh intraday record. China said it was in close contact with the U.S. to sign the initial trade deal announced last Friday. Meanwhile economic reports early in the day were lackluster.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's regional activity index for December came in at 0.3 well below the 8.0 expected by economists and the 10.4 reading in November. New applications for U.S. jobless benefits fell during the week ended Dec. 14, dipping 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 after surging to 252,000, a two-year high, the week before. Economists were expecting a reading of 235,000, according to a MarketWatch poll.

Source : Marketwatch