- US stocks ticked higher Thursday, following five consecutive losing sessions for the S&P 500.
- Investors are eyeing next week's Federal Reserve meeting, where policymakers are expected to make a half-point interest rate hike.
US stocks ticked higher Thursday, after fears of a persistently hawkish Federal Reserve sent the S&P 500 to five consecutive losing sessions.
Recent signs of resilience in the US economy, despite an aggressive tightening campaign from the Fed this year, have raised worries that rates will stay higher for longer.
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to 230,000 in the week ending December 3. The Big Tech sector in particular has seen dramatic layoffs, with names like Twitter, Meta, Amazon, and others announcing cuts recently.
Traders are largely betting on a 50-basis-point hike at the FOMC meeting next week, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
Here's where US indexes stood as the market opened 9:30 a.m. on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 3,945.08, up 0.28%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,718.13, up 0.36% (120.21 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 10,992.33, up 0.31%
Here's what else is going on today:
- A new survey showed just 1% of retail investors want to sell their stocks despite mounting recession warnings.
- FTX has reportedly hired a team of forensic investigators to trace billions of dollars missing in customer funds.
- Western officials and Ankara are in talks to ease an oil tanker pile-up near Turkey.
- BlackRock says get ready for a recession unlike any other.
- The dollar's is seeing its worst slump in over a decade, but the currency's dominant run may not be over yet.
In oil, commodities and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate oil rose 3.43% to $74.48 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, inched higher 1.78% to $78.54 a barrel.
- Gold edged higher 0.27% to $1,802.60 per ounce.
- The 10-year yield jumped 9 basis points to 3.498%.
- Bitcoin rose 0.11% to $16,845.