4:13pm: Micron among the day's leaders
The Dow closed Thursday up 322 points, 0.9%, at 37,404, the Nasdaq Composite gained 186 points, 1.3%, to 14,964 and the S&P 500 improved 48 points, 1%, to 4,747. The small-cap Russell 2000 index added 33 points, 1.7%, to 2,016.
The so-called "Santa rally" resumed after a Wednesday that the Dow and Nasdaq suffer their worst trading day since October, while the S&P endured its worst session since September.
“The stock market went from up to down pretty fast,” said Rhys Williams, chief strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management. “And so, I just think it was a technical correction after a very strong period of time.”
Micron Technology shares popped more than 8% after the chipmaker beat expectations with its fiscal first quarter results.
12:00pm: US stocks remain upbeat although off highs
US stocks remained in the green, although off early highs, as the feel good factor returned to Wall Street.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 105.19 points, 0.3%, at 37,187.19, the S&P 500 was up 18.77 points, 0.4%, at 4,717.12 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 88.34 points, 0.6%, at 14,866.28.
Weekly jobless claims continued to show a resilient labour market while a slight downgrade to GDP figures was shrugged aside.
Nancy Vanden Houten at Oxford Economics said the claims data "are consistent with a job market that is cooling but not freezing."
"Wage growth is slowing but is still too rapid to be consistent with 2% inflation."
"We expect a further slowdown in employment to put downward pressure on wage growth and inflation, allowing the Fed start cutting rates next year, with a risk that rate cuts may come sooner than Q3, which is our current forecast."
9:40am: Festive cheer returns as stocks motor once again
US stocks soared on Thursday, rebounding from Wednesday's blip, as optimism returned to Wall Street.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 296.13 points, 0.8%, at 37,378.13, the S&P 500 was up 40.69, 0.9%, at 4,739.04 and the Nasdaq Composite was 149.08 points, 1.0%, at 14,927.02.
The gains came as economic growth was revised down a notch, new figures showed.
According to a final gross domestic product estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP grew by 4.9% quarter-on-quarter on an annualised basis in the three months to September 30.
In the second-quarter, GDP had grown by 2.1% on the same basis.
An earlier advance estimate, out a month ago, said the US economy grew by 5.2% in the third quarter.
The BEA said: "The increase in the third quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased."
Separately, US jobless claims, a proxy for lay-offs, came in lower than economists expected last week as the labour market continued to prove resilient.
New applications for US state unemployment aid totalled 205,000 in the week ending December 16, a slight rise from the previous week’s 203,000, the labour department said on Thursday.
Economists had forecast 215,000 new claims.
Warner Bros Discovery was down 1.3% and Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) down 2.4% after reports the two companies are in early talks to merge.
7:00am: Stocks to resume festive rally after taking a day off
Stocks in New York look set to resume their upward path after heavy falls late in the day on Wednesday.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4%, while those for the S&P 500 were 0.5% higher and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.6%.
Henry Allen at Deutsche Bank said after an “astonishing melt-up over recent weeks, markets suddenly shifted gear late in the US session yesterday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest daily decline since September.”
He noted just 19 companies in the entire index were higher on the day, “the lowest number since March at the height of the banking turmoil, so this was an incredibly broad-based decline.”
Ahead of the open the US commerce department will release its final estimate for the country’s gross domestic product in the third quarter, which economists expect will be the same as the second estimate at 5.2%.
Elewhere, initial claims for US state unemployment aid, considered a proxy for lay-offs, are forecast to have risen to 215,000 last week, up from 202,000 in the previous seven-day period.
Stocks to watch include Micron Technology, up 5.8% in pre-market trading after strong first quarter results after the market close Wednesday.
The chipmaker reported a 16% year-over-year sales increase to $4.73 billion, beating the consensus of $4.55 billion.
CEO Sanjay Mehrotra attributed the success to strong execution and pricing.