© Reuters. US Stocks Bounce; Chipmakers, Cruise Lines Lead, Dollar Falls: What’s Driving Markets Thursday?
Benzinga – by Piero Cingari, Benzinga Staff Writer.
On Thursday, Wall Street rebounded into positive territory, following a brief dip experienced on Wednesday. At midday trading New York time, all major stock indices were trading in the green as traders prepared for the final trading week of the year.
The S&P 500 made a modest 0.3% gain, but its equal-weighted counterpart, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (NYSE:RSP), outperformed with a 0.5% increase. The Dow also edged up by 0.3%.
Tech stocks within the Nasdaq 100 surged by 0.5%, while small-cap stocks continued to outperform, with the Russell 2000 gaining 1%.
Long-term bond yields saw a slight increase, with the popular iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) declining by 0.6%.
The U.S. dollar, as monitored through the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE:UUP), fell by 0.4%, revisiting its yearly lows, in response to weaker-than-expected economic data. The U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter, down from the previous estimate of a 5.2% increase.
Gold, tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), saw a 0.5% surge, while silver gained 0.8% in reaction to the weakening dollar. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) remained stable.
Thursday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs
| Russell 2000 | 2,000.71 | 1.0% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 16,637.75 | 0.5% |
| S&P 500 | 4,715.85 | 0.3% |
| Dow Jones | 37,197.33 | 0.3% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.4% higher to $469.90, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) was 0.3% higher to $372.01 and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) inched up 0.6% to $405.34, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, discretionary outperformed, with the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) up 0.8%. On the negative side, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) were both 0.3% lower.
Among industries, solar and semiconductors were notable gainers, with the Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN) and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SMH) up 3.9% and 2%, respectively. REITs lagged, with the Vanguard Real Estate (NYSE:VNQ) down 1%.
Thursday’s Stock Movers
- Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL) rose 6.4%, as the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue in the last quarter.
- Shares of other cruise companies also experienced a surge. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) shares climbed almost 4%, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) saw a 5% increase.
- Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rose over 7% after posting better-than-expected results last quarter. In response, other chipmakers also gained. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) rose over 2.5%, while Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) inched up 1%.
- MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rocketed 9%, topping the Russell 1000’s gainers.
- Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) tumbled over 6% after missing earnings estimate.
- Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) and Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) fell 4% and 3.4%, respectively, after Ben Barringer, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, stated the merger between these two companies will likely worsen their financial profile.
Read now: Micron Technology Guidance Reflects Strong Pricing Rebound: 10 Analysts Deep Dive Into Q1 Earnings
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