The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on Thursday to its fourth record close in the last five sessions, as stronger-than-expected monthly retail sales indicated a robust US consumer and TSMC's upbeat forecast buoyed chipmakers' stocks.

The other main Wall Street benchmarks were largely unchanged, as the S&P 500 dipped to a fractional loss and the Nasdaq Composite eked out a tiny win.

The chipmaker's US-listed shares soared 9.8 percent, while artificial intelligence-trade favorite and TSMC customer Nvidia gained 0.9 percent.

The optimism spread to other chip stocks, sending the broader Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index 1 percent higher.

Fresh US data confirmed healthy growth in the world's largest economy, while keeping bets on a 25-basis-point rate cut at the Federal Reserve's next meeting largely intact at 89.4 percent, according to CME's FedWatch.

US retail sales increased 0.4 percent in September, slightly more than expected, while weekly jobless claims fell unexpectedly.

A broadly upbeat start to the third-quarter earnings season, strong economic data and the Fed kicking off its policy-easing cycle have pushed the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs in recent sessions, with the latter close to the psychologically important 6,000 mark.

The S&P 500 lost 1.00 points, or 0.02 percent, at 5,841.47 points, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 6.53 points, or 0.04 percent, to 18,373.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.35 points, or 0.37 percent, to 43,239.05.