Stocks close higher in year-end rally. Nasdaq adds more than 2%

All of the major averages ended higher on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points, or 1.05%. The S&P 500 gained 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.59% to 10,478.09.

— Tanaya Macheel

Big banks are scheduled to report results the week of Jan. 9. An early look at where things stand for the fourth quarter shows Refinitiv expecting S&P 500 earnings to fall 1.5%. That will be the first earnings contraction since Q3 2020. But there has been plenty of negative growth prior to this earnings season.

Profits have been propped up by energy's huge gains in recent quarters. When stripping out the energy sector's outsized impact, S&P 500 earnings have contracted the past two quarters. Q4 would be a third straight contraction ex-energy – and a bigger 6% decline vs. a 2% drop in Q2 and a 3% fall in Q3.

Among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, seven are expected to see earnings contraction this season. The biggest coming from materials (down 22.5%) and communication services (down 21.2%). Only energy, industrials, real estate and utilities will see growth. But even energy's projected 64% increase pales in comparison to the astronomical rises it has seen during the past few quarters.

-Robert Hum

CFRA analyst Colin Scarola maintained his buy rating on Southwest Airlines despite recent flight cancellations.

Scarola lowered the price target to $41 per share from $47, citing damage to the brand after it canceled thousands of flights in recent days amid scheduling challenges coming out of the winter storm last week. His new price target implies a 27.4% upside over where the stock closed Wednesday.

And he said the stock's drop of just over 16% this month on the back of the cancellations has made it a smart time to buy in as he said customers would likely be willing to overlook the current issues when booking travel in the future. The stock gained nearly 4% in trading Thursday afternoon after falling in recent days.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Alex Harring

CFRA gave Netflix a double upgraded after applying a wider risk premium and considering where it stood in relation to competitors.

Analyst Kenneth Leon double-upgraded the stock to buy from sell. He also raised the price target by $85 to $310, which implies an upside of 12% over where the stock closed Wednesday.

"We think it will be difficult for competitors to catch NFLX, one of the few profitable streaming providers with global scale," Leon said in a note to clients Wednesday.

The stock gained 4.8% Thursday. It's down 54% this year.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the upgrade here.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the stocks making the biggest moves during midday trading:

• Netflix — The streaming giant gained 6.3% following a double upgrade to buy from sell by CFRA, saying it will be difficult for competitors to catch up with the company.
• Cal-Maine Foods — Cal-Maine shares shed 15% after reporting earnings that fell short of Wall Street's expectations even as the egg producer reported record sales.

Read the full list of stocks making moves midday here.

— Samantha Subin

All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 were positive in midday trading, but the communications services and information technology sectors were leading the charge. Both were up more than 2% around noon ET.

Notable winners in the communications sector include Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, both up more than 6%. Netflix recently received a double upgrade from CFRA Research, rising to buy from sell. The firm also lifted its price target on the streaming giant by $85 to $310. Alphabet shares also popped nearly 3%.

Tech names jumping include Apple, up more than 3% after a streak of negative days, and AMD, also up more than 3%. Shares of Tesla rallied more than 8%.

The rally in tech names comes as bond yields ticked lower. The sector has been bashed by rising interest rates, which hurt the present value of those stocks' future earnings streams.

-Darla Mercado

VanEck is winding down its two Russia ETFs, which have been effectively frozen since March.

Trading of Russia stocks has been largely shut down to western investors and firms since the invasion of Ukraine. Franklin Templeton and BlackRock have made similar announcements about their Russia ETFs.

The VanEck Russia ETF (RSX) began the year with more than $1.3 billion in assets under management.

— Jesse Pound

The turmoil around Elon Musk and weakness in the electric vehicle market could limit Tesla's near-term upside, but the company is still in a strong position, according to Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Adam Jonas cut his price target on the automaker's stock but maintained his overweight rating, saying that Tesla could "widen its lead" during a period of soft demand for electric vehicles.

Check out more of the call on CNBC Pro.

— Jesse Pound

The major averages opened higher on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 179 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 added 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1%.

— Tanaya Macheel

Jobless claims increased last week amid Federal Reserve efforts to cool the economy and in particular the labor market.

First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 225,000 for the week ended Dec. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was an increase of 9,000 from the previous week and slightly above the 223,000 estimate from Dow Jones.

Longer-term, continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, jumped to 1.71 million, an increase of 41,000 to the highest level since early February.

The numbers this time of year are always noisy due to the holidays. Claims not adjusted for seasonal factors surged by 23,146, a 9.3% increase.

—Jeff Cox

These are the stocks making the biggest moves before the bell:

• Tesla – Tesla rallied 4.4% in the premarket after posting its first rise in eight sessions Wednesday, softening the blow to its stock in what will still be the worst year ever for Tesla shares.
• Cal-Maine Foods – Cal-Maine slid 4.9% in premarket trading after its quarterly earnings came in below Wall Street forecasts. Cal-Maine reported record sales for the quarter.
• Apple – Apple is up 1% in premarket trading after closing Wednesday at a 1-1/2 year low. Apple is down 29% for 2022.

Check out the full list for more Thursday early morning movers.

— Peter Schacknow, Tanaya Macheel

Electric vehicle stocks may have cooled in 2022, but the options for investors to play the trend are continuing to grow with the arrival of the Element EV, Solar & Battery Materials (Lithium, Nickel, Copper, Cobalt) Futures Strategy ETF.

The fund, which is set to begin trading on Thursday, carries a management fee of 0.95% and will trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker "CHRG." The fund will buy and sell futures and related products on minerals and metals that are vital for electric vehicles.

Element Funds was co-founded by Goldman Sachs veteran Will McDonough, and the portfolio management team will include fellow co-founders John Raymond and John Calvert from Energy & Minerals Group, a Houston-based private equity firm with $13 billion in assets.

The fund's active strategy sets it apart from the the KraneShares Electrification Metals Strategy ETF, which launched in October and tracks the Bloomberg Electrification Metals Index. That fund has performed well so far but has thin trading volume and less than $30 million in assets under management.

"This is not something you can play passively. Battery technology is maturing daily," McDonough said, adding that the portfolio will be adjusted on a monthly basis.

In addition to lithium futures, the fund will also trade in other metals, with an emphasis on copper, said McDonough, who is also the CEO of Element Funds .

"The demand for copper in any electric vehicle of any kind is over 2x what it is in a traditional car. People want to talk about the lithium story — this is as much a copper story as it is a lithium story," McDonough said.

Outside of Goldman Sachs, McDonough's career includes stints at Marc Lasry's Avenue Capital as a wealth manager for professional athletes, including Tom Brady, and as a blockchain entrepreneur.

— Jesse Pound

European markets retreated on Thursday as caution returned to global stocks, with investors assessing a number of likely headwinds in 2023.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.5% in early trade, with food and beverage stocks shedding 1% to lead losses as almost all sectors and major bourses slid into the red.

The European blue chip index began Thursday's session down more than 12% for the year.

- Elliot Smith

It's been a tumultuous year for electric vehicle stocks, and two investor favorites, Tesla and Rivian, have been no exception.

What will the year ahead look like for both stocks? CNBC Pro spoke to analysts and trawled through Wall Street research to find out.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

It's been a bad year for tech companies, and many investors have been wondering when tech stocks will rebound.

Tech fund manager Jeremy Gleeson of AXA Investment Managers told CNBC Pro Talks last week that he still believes in the sector.

He explains why and names the stocks to buy.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The 11 sectors of the S&P 500 suffered during regular trading on Wednesday, dragged by energy companies.

Notable decliners in the energy sector include EQT, which slumped 7.8%, and APA, which fell about 5.2%. The losses came alongside falling prices for West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude, as well as natural gas.

The eleven sectors are limping along as the week begins to wind down. They are all down for the week, dragged by communication services, which is off by nearly 2.7%. All sectors are also negative for December, with consumer discretionary leading the categories to the downside and off by about 13.3%

Energy is shining for the fourth quarter and the year, however. It's up 19.6% for the final three months of the year, and up about 56.4% for 2022.

-Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes

What does inflation looks like these days?

Consumers are paying roughly twice as much for a dozen eggs than they were a year ago, driven in part by greater demand for specialty eggs, according to the latest results from Cal-Maine Foods, the nation's largest egg producer.

The average selling price for each dozen of eggs hit $2.71 in the quarter ended November 2022, up from $1.37 the same quarter the previous year. That increase has outpaced a rise in feed costs, which have been surging in recent years.

Supply and demand are propelling the surge in prices.

While bird flu has hurt industry supplies, Cal-Maine has continued to see enormous demand — notably in premium specialty eggs. Conventional egg volumes were actually 2% lower in the quarter, while specialty eggs saw a 24% surge in volumes.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Conventional egg prices have been increasing so much that they've been exceeding prices for specialty eggs. Cal-Maine's average price for conventional eggs in the latest quarter was $2.88 – more than 21% higher than the going price of $2.37 for specialty eggs.

So why pay for a conventional egg when you can get a less expensive specialty egg? Cal-Maine pointed out that the phenomenon has been a surprising trend of late: "Conventional egg prices exceeding specialty egg prices has occurred for the past three quarters but is atypical historically."

Also boosting specialty egg demand – cage-free egg mandates in California and Massachusetts last January, as well as a trend of "more retailers shifting to selling more cage-free products."

Shares of Cal-Maine jumped 68% in 2022. Still, the stock was down about 5% in Wednesday extended trading.

— Robert Hum, Sarah Min

U.S. stock futures opened higher Wednesday night, as investors head into the final trading days of 2022.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 38 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.12% and 0.15%, respectively.

— Sarah Min