US stocks rose on Thursday as investors tried to salvage the last two trading days of a brutal year for the markets.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 1.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained nearly 300 points, or 0.9%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 2.1%. The moves come after all three major averages fell more than 1% in the previous trading session.
Megacap tech giants Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) are all up at least 2%, helping boost the broader market after selling off over the past two days. This week’s risk-free trading saw Apple fall below the key technical level of $130 and Amazon as the third of the FAANG+ stocks – along with Meta (META) and Netflix (NFLX) – erased its pandemic gains and under its COVID crash in March 2020 low closed on Tuesday.
Investors continued to watch Tesla (TSLA) rally after the stock suffered a seven-day losing streak on Wednesday after a multi-day sell-off over concerns about the closure of its factory in China. Shares rose nearly 8% on Thursday.
Electric vehicle peers Rivian (RIVN), Lucid (LCID) and Nio (NIO) all rallied along with Tesla after electric car makers suffered throughout the week.
Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) shares fell more than 10% even as the egg producer reported second-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates, with revenue rising 110% year over year on inflation and bird flu drove up egg prices.
Elsewhere, biotech Kala Pharmaceuticals (KALA) rose 31% on Thursday, continuing a surge after the stock quadrupled on Wednesday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s application for a new drug to treat persistent corneal epithelial defects.
Turning to economic data, jobless insurance claims rose to 225,000 in the week ended December 24 from 216,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The push came in part with consensus estimates from economists polled by Bloomberg.
The story goes on
Traders work at the item on which Carvana Co. trades on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, the United States, December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Elsewhere, oil continued a decline after its recent rally, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures – the US benchmark – falling 2.2% to trade just above $77.
US Treasury yields fell and the US Dollar Index also fell.
December selling pressures, fueled by concerns about rising interest rates and a looming economic slowdown, continued through the end of the month, throwing a wrench to the seasonal year-end rally that typically occurs in the last trading days of the year.
“Many factors have historically favored the traditional environment that supports year-end stock rallies, such as holiday pay investment, seasonal optimism among consumers and investors, and tax considerations,” said Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments, in a statement. “However, given the dismal stock and bond performance of 2022, which is expected to continue into 2023, combined with ongoing inflation concerns, uncertain Fed policy and ongoing geopolitical tensions, investors will not get any Christmas presents for their portfolios this year.”
US and global stocks are on the verge of their worst slump since the 2008 financial crisis.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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