Wall Street hovers near record highs after Biden bounce; Ford Motor up 3%

President Joe Biden is expected to launch an array of initiatives during his initial days in office, including ramping up testing and vaccine rollouts.

Wall Street's main indexes hovered near record highs on Thursday as investors counted on more pandemic relief and speedy vaccine rollouts under the Biden administration to support the economy after data showed a weakening labor market recovery.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits was 900,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department's report said.

The elevated reading was likely due to a relentless surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.

While the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow were about flat by 10:00 a.m. ET after gaining in the past two sessions, a jump in shares of technology heavyweights Alphabet