Wall Street advanced on Thursday after recovering from abroad sell-off in the prior session, with latest data adding to expectations that borrowing costs could ease next year, while chipmaker Micron advanced after giving an upbeat forecast.
A Commerce Department report showed the final gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for the third quarter stood at 4.9%, compared with previous estimates of 5.2%.
Separately, a Labour Department report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, suggesting underlying strength in the economy as the year winds down.
“It’s a mixed bag of macro data and points to weaker economic activity ahead,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
“Markets are going high because yields are coming down, but yields are coming down because the market is expecting really weak economic activity next year and that the Fed will cut interest rates.”
Yields on the benchmark 10-year US treasury note moved lower to 3.83509%, further from multi-year highs it scaled in October.
The three main indexes had ended the previous session lower, with the benchmark S&P 500 notching its worst day since late September, snapping a recent rally sparked by a surprisingly dovish tone by the Federal Reserve.
The benchmark index is nearing its record closing high hit in early 2022 which would confirm the index had been in a bull market since closing at the bear market floor in October 2022.
Despite some pushback from Federal Reserve officials, traders still expect an 85.3% chance of at least a 25 basis points rate cut in as early as March next year, and a 100% chance of a rate cut in May, according to the CME Fed Watch Tool.
Meanwhile, Micron Technology forecast quarterly revenue above market estimates, and its shares jumped 7.8% on signs of a memory chip recovery in 2024 after one of the most significant downturns in years.
The Philadelphia SE semi-conductor index housing chip stocks advanced 2.0%.
At 9:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 291.20 points, or 0.79%, at 37 373.20, the S&P 500 was up 38.60 points, or 0.82%, at 4 736.95, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 146.11 points, or 0.99%, at 14 924.06.
All of the S&P 500’s sectors were in gains, with the tech sector leading with a 1.1% rise, while the small-caps Russell 2000 index rose 1.2%.
Boeing climbed 1.5% as the plane-maker is set to restart deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner to China within days, a source told Reuters, a step that could pave the way for China to also end a more than four-year freeze on deliveries of Boeing’s profit-making 737 MAX.
US electric vehicle makers like Tesla, Nikola and Lucid Group added between 1% and 2.4% after a report said the United States was considering tariff hikes on Chinese EV manufacturers.
Triumph Group soared 31% after the aerospace supplier said it would sell its components aftermarket business to AAR Corp for $725 million.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 7.29-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.65-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 27 new highs and 26 new lows.
