Stocks mostly rose Thursday as a successful 2023 on Wall Street neared its end.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) hovered near an all-time closing high of 4,796.56 for the second straight day. The benchmark average rose just 0.04% on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 0.14%, or about 50 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped just below the flat line.
Still, the Nasdaq has gained more than 44% this year. If this continues through the last trading day of 2023 on Friday, it would be the best grand average year since 2003.
Stocks entered Thursday looking to post gains for the ninth straight week. If the S&P 500 posts another positive week, it would be the longest weekly winning streak for the benchmark average since 2004.
New economic data showed jobless claims rose slightly in the week ending Dec. 23. Americans filed 218,000 unemployment claims, up from 205,000 the week before and more than the 210,000 economists had forecast.
Broadly speaking, economists have been closely watching the labor market for signs of weakness that could suggest the U.S. economy is headed for a broader downturn in 2024, but Thursday's data did little to heighten concerns.
“Companies have been extremely reluctant to lay off workers they have struggled to find over the past three years,” U.S. economist Thomas Simons of Jefferies wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “We doubt they will be able to keep everyone indefinitely, but they will try. …The chances of a soft landing in the labor market have increased, but a landing of some form is certainly imminent.”
Also in economic data, the latest release of the pending home sales index remained at 71.6 in November, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Thursday. The index reading was the lowest since the index was launched in 2001 and was below the 0.9% increase expected by economists.
The story goes on
In real estate data, the interest rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage also fell to 6.61% from 6.67% the week before, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates are now at their lowest level since May.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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