4:16pm: Alphabet, AMD rise
The Dow closed Thursday up 63 points, 0.2%, at 36,117, the Nasdaq Composite gained 193 points, 1.4%, to 14,340 and the S&P 500 improved 36 points, 0.8%, to 4,586. The small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 13 points, 0.7%, to 1,865.
The S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak as investors look ahead to Friday's jobs report. Economists expect that 190,000 jobs were added in November.
Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet jumped more than 5% Thursday after Google announced that a new AI model called Gemini is coming to its Bard chatbot.
Shares of AMD popped nearly 10% after the company launched its new MI300 silicon artificial intelligence (AI) chip.
12:05pm: S&P 500 on track to snap three-day losing streak
US stocks were higher in noon trading as the tech sector got a lift from Alphabet’s AI news and investors await Friday’s jobs data.
At midday, the Dow gained 35 points to 36,090, while the S&P 500 added 33 points at 4,583 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 175 points to 14,322.
"The market has more than likely gotten ahead of itself in forecasting rate cuts for early next year," NorthEnd Private Wealth chief investment officer Alex McGrath said.
Notable movers included shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), which climbed more than 5% after the tech giant announced the launch of its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) model.
9:45pm: US markets jump, with Gemini launch lifting Alphabet
US markets climbed led by tech issues as investors took the view tomorrow's non-farm payrolls will boost hopes for an earlier than expected pivot in interest rates.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 15.84 points at 36,070.27, the S&P 500 rose 21.49 points, 0.5%, at 4,570.83 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 142.83 points, 1.0%, to 14,289.54.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet leapt 5.6% as investors cheered the launch of its Gemini AI model, an update to Bard.
Google Bard will now be powered by an AI model called Gemini, which Google says can deliver more advanced reasoning, deeper understanding and more.
In economic news, new US initial unemployment benefits claims picked up slightly last week, though were lower than expected.
According to the US Department of Labor, initial jobless claims totalled 220,000 in the week ended December 2, rising slightly from 219,000 a week prior, below the consensus reading og 222,000.
The previous week's reading was upwardly revised from 218,000.
The four-week moving average moved higher to 220,750 from 220,250 while continuing jobless claims for the week ended November 25 decreased to 1.861 million from 1.925 million.
Nancy Vanden Houten at Oxford Economics said: "Looking past the noise, initial claims remain at a level that is consistent with relatively low layoffs, while the continued claims data suggest that some unemployed individuals may be finding it more difficult to find new jobs."
"We think the claims data, along with other recent labor market statistics, are consistent with a job market that is cooling enough to rule out further rate hikes, but still healthy enough to preclude rate cuts from consideration any time soon."
7:00am: Mixed start expected on Wall Street ahead of jobs report
US stocks are expected to make a mixed progress as the recent rally continues to stall ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%, while those for the S&P 500 were flat and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.2%.
Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets said “looking ahead, US unemployment claims data comes into view as we gear up for Friday’s jobs report.”
“With both initial and continuing jobless claims on the rise of late, there are tentative signs that the US economy is finally starting to feel the squeeze.”
“Nonetheless, we are yet to see any significant uptick in unemployment, with the Fed likely to remain confident that they have managed to land the perfect soft landing despite a historic monetary tightening policy seen over the past two-years,” he noted.
Ahead of tomorrow’s jobs data, initial applications for US state unemployment aid, a proxy for lay-offs, are expected to have ticked up to 222,000 last week from 218,000 the prior week.
Elsewhere, results from discount retailer Dollar Tree are due before the market opens while Canadian athletic apparel maker Lululemon will disclose numbers after the market close.
Stocks to watch include online pet products retailer Chewy which tumbled 10.2% in pre-market trading after the company issued a weak forecast for fourth quarter net sales.