Nasdaq closes 1% higher, Dow and S&P 500 snap 3-day losing streak: Live updates

Stocks finished Thursday's session up.

The Dow and S&P 500 ended 0.2% and 0.8% higher, respectively. Both snapped three-day losing streaks, the longest for each since October.

The Nasdaq Composite outperformed with a 1.4% advance. It's the only major index on track to end the week up.

— Alex Harring

Many are anticipating a "goldilocks" scenario in 2024, but Citi said it's not as optimistic. The Wall Street firm expects a recession will start in the second quarter of next year.

"Early signs suggest that the rapid rise in policy rates over the last two years – and need to hold them there to bring down inflation – will lead to a recession next year," Andrew Hollenhorst wrote in a Wednesday note.

"Even factoring in a recession, core inflation is likely to remain 'sticky' above the 2% target for all of 2024. In our base case the Fed cuts rates 100bp next year, starting in July," he added.

— Sarah Min, Michael Bloom

Cruise lines are expecting even more passengers to board their ships next year, with 35.7 million passengers expected to set sail in 2024, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). That's more than the 31.5 million who cruised in 2023 and 6% higher than 2019.

That post-pandemic pent-up demand has helped propel stocks higher. Royal Caribbean is up 140% year to date, while Carnival gained about 120% while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings rose 51%.

Many on Wall Street remain bullish on the stocks. Each company has an average analyst rating of overweight, according to FactSet.

To read more about what analysts are saying about cruise stocks right now, read the CNBC Pro story here.

— Michelle Fox

U.S. crude declined slightly on Thursday, closing below $70 a barrel for the second day in a row.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for January fell 4 cents, or .06%, to settle at $69.34 a barrel. The Brent contract for February lost 25 cents, or .34%, to settle at $74.05 a barrel.

WTI shed 4% on Wednesday, closing below $70 for the first time since late June.

Oil traders are increasingly bearish with record U.S. production and a weakening economy in China. The OPEC+ production cuts announced for the first quarter have not been able to move the needle so far.

— Spencer Kimball

Stocks remained poised to end Thursday's session higher as the last hour of trading commenced.

The Dow and the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively, shortly after 3 p.m. ET. If those gains hold, it would snap three-day losing streaks for both — the longest each has seen since October.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 1.2%. It's the only of the three major averages on track to finish the week higher.

— Alex Harring

Stocks may not get a boost in the early innings of 2024 as a potential economic slowdown looms, but likely will advance later in the year, according to Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management.

"In the early months of 2024, it is unclear whether the projected fall in inflation and softer Fed messaging will be enough to bolster equities in the face of a likely economic slowdown," Ma said. "As 2024 progresses, however, we believe that equity markets will respond positively to the approaching Fed rate cuts and the economic stabilization and upturn that we expect by the spring or summer months."

Still, he said gains in the new year should be relatively broad based across both size and the growth-versus-value spectrum.

Emerging markets also are well-positioned to benefit from declining interest rates and an improved global growth outlook in 2024, added Ma. He also underscored investment potential in Japan on the back of structural changes and actions that include more shareholder-friendly policies.

— Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim

Technology shares are to thank for Thursday's market gains, according to Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

The three major U.S. indexes are up, led by the Nasdaq Composite. On the other hand, Europe performed "rather poorly."

He noted Google-parent Alphabet as a specific helper given the release of its new artificial intelligence model. Shares were up more than 6% in midday trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.4%.

"Tech is the difference maker," he said.

Still, Erlam said investors may be cautious ahead of Friday's closely followed jobs report.

"I do think there's still some apprehension ahead of some huge economic readings from the world's largest economy," the analyst said.

— Alex Harring

GameStop is giving CEO and Chairman Ryan Cohen even more power.

The company announced in its quarterly filing Wednesday evening that its investment policy now allows the use of company funds to purchase equities, and that Cohen is in charge of corporate investment.

GameStop did not hold a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the quarter and the changes, but Wedbush's Michael Pachter said in a note to clients that the decision was "inane" and "alarming."

Shares of GameStop rose about 2% on Thursday.

— Jesse Pound

Analysts maintained their positive view on McDonald's after the company's investor day on Wednesday, during which McDonald's had announced plans to open 50,000 restaurants and expand their loyalty program by 100 million active users by 2027. The restaurant chain is also planning to connect its stores with Google Cloud technology beginning in 2024.

Shares of McDonald's gained 0.2% on Thursday. The stock closed up 0.1% higher at $286.86 on Wednesday.

Here's some of the highlights out of Wall Street:

• Morgan Stanley: Analyst Brian Harbour kept his $315 price target and overweight rating on the stock, saying the company's initial 2024 guide is "mostly aligned" with the firm's prior stance. The McDonald's-Google partnership to apply generative AI to operations and customer personalization will likely compound the restaurant chain's tech advantage, he noted.
• Bernstein: The firm maintained its $300 price target and market-perform rating on the stock. "Net-net, we believe that margins will likely remain flat-to-moderately down vs 2023 in 2024, but MCD will benefit from in the long run as efficiencies and sales leverage drive margins coming out of the cycle," analyst Danilo Gargiulo said.
• Barclays: Analyst Jeffrey Bernstein is "bullish" on the stock, he said, adding that McDonald's "remains the largest & most dominant in [quick service restaurant], where size & scale matters." Bernstein kept his $315 price target, believing that the company has a variety of growth drivers, ranging from customer loyalty to digital and delivery advancements, even during a potential 2024 slowdown.
• JPMorgan: The firm lifted its price target by $22 to $300 and reiterated its overweight rating. "The scale of McDonald's allows an underlying "value for money ̇ focus, especially important as consumers consider alternatives in the grocery segment including available private label," analyst John Ivankoe said.

— Pia Singh

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite is outperforming on both the trading day and week.

The index is up by 1.4% in Thursday's session and 0.3% since the week began. It's the only of the three major averages on pace to end the week higher.

The Dow and S&P 500 climbed 0.3% and 0.8% on Thursday, respectively. Despite that advance, both are tracking to end the week down more than 0.2%.

— Alex Harring

The Dow underperformed in Thursday's session, weighed down by Merck and Boeing.

The blue-chip index flickered around its flatline during the session. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose about 0.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Merck and Boeing dragged on the average with losses of around 1% each. UnitedHealth, Nike and Johnson & Johnson were also among the biggest laggards.

Those losses restricted gains for the 30-stock index, which had a majority of members trading up midday . Walgreens was the notable outperformer with a jump of more than 7%. Entertainment giant Disney, as well as technology stocks Cisco, Apple, Intel, were also among the top performers.

— Alex Harring

Here's are some of the companies making the biggest moves during midday trading:

• Advanced Micro Devices — The chipmaker's stock popped 7%, a day after the company unveiled its new artificial intelligence chips poised to challenge Nvidia's dominance.
• Alphabet — The Google parent's stock rallied more than 5%, a day after the company unveiled in latest and most powerful AI Model known as Gemini.
• Sprinklr — Shares plunged about 30% on the back of the company's quarterly earnings announcement.

Read the full list of stocks on the move here.

— Samantha Subin

The U.S. dollar hit a low of 144.53 against the yen on Thursday, its lowest level since Sept. 1. During that session, the dollar traded as low as 144.43.

The dollar is down 1.7% against the yen, on pace for its worst daily loss against the Japanese currency since Jan. 12, 2023, when the dollar fell 2.45% against the yen.

—Gina Francolla, Michelle Fox

The S&P 500 communication services sector rallied more than 3%, led by strong gains in Google-parent Alphabet. The move put the group on track for its biggest one-day gain since April 27, when it surged 5.5%.

— Fred Imbert

Google-parent Alphabet rallied more than 5%, a day after the company launched what it views as its largest and "most capable" artificial intelligence model known as Gemini.

The model, slated to come in three different sizes, will power products such as its Bard chatbot.

The jump in Alphabet shares boosted the Nasdaq Composite, last up more than 1%. Advanced Micro Devices was the biggest winner in the concentrated Nasdaq-100, jumping more than 6% after unveiling in AI chip competitor to Nvidia.

— Samantha Subin

Chevron plans up to $16.5 billion in capital expenditures in 2024, a nearly 18% increase over its spending this year.

The oil giant announced a capital spending range of $15.5 to $16.5 billion for next year for its consolidated subsidiaries, and approximately $3 billion for affiliates.

Chevron's capital spending budget was $14 billion in 2023.

The oil giant's upstream budget will be $14 billion next year with two-thirds devoted to the U.S. This includes $6.5 billion for its shale and tight budget with $5 billion allocated for development in the Permian basin.

Exxon Mobil is planning capital spending and exploration expenditures of $23 billion to $25 billion in 2024.

Chevron's stock is down 20.6% this year. Exxon's stock is down 10.2%.

— Spencer Kimball

The three major indexes kicked off Thursday's session higher.

The Dow and S&P 500 added 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, reversing course after three straight losing sessions. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.

— Alex Harring

Oil rose about 1% Thursday after U.S. crude closed below $70 a barrel Wednesday.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for January gained 13 cents, or 1.08%, to trade at $70.13, while the Brent contract for February rose 81 cents, or 1.09%, to $75.11 a barrel.

U.S. crude closed at its lowest level since late June on Wednesday amid mixed signals on domestic demand and worries about the Chinese economy.

Saudi Arabia and Russia on Thursday issued a joint statement calling on all OPEC+ members to join an agreement to slash oil supply in the first quarter of 2024.

The statement comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting the kingdom.

Traders have been skeptical of a voluntary productions adopted by some OPEC+ members last week.

— Spencer Kimball

The level of those receiving unemployment compensation on a continuing basis fell for the most recent reporting period, indicating that layoffs are still happening at a relatively tepid pace, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Continuing unemployment claims totaled 1.861 million for the week ended Nov. 25, a decline of 64,000 from the previous week. Treasury yields edged higher following the news as a healthy labor market would give the Federal Reserve more impetus to keep monetary policy tight and hold interest rates steady at next week's meeting.

Initial claims for the week ended Dec. 2 nudged up to 220,000, near the Dow Jones estimate for 222,000.

—Jeff Cox

These are some of the stocks making notable moves in premarket trading:

• GameStop — GameStop shares dropped 8% after the video game retailer posted its latest quarterly figures. The company reported a loss of 1 cent per share on revenue of $1.08 billion. However, it wasn't clear if that wasn't comparable to LSEG estimates.
• Chewy — Shares of the pet care e-commerce company lost 10% on the back of disapopointing results for the third quarter. Chewy lost 8 cents per share on revenue of $2.74 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of 6 cents per share on revenue of $2.75 billion. The company's fourth-quarter revenue guidance was also disappointing.
• Rivian — Shares added 2.6%  after Stifel initiated coverage of the electric vehicle company with a buy rating. The investment bank thinks industry headwinds will abate over the next few years and pointed to Amazon's agreement to buy 10,000 vehicles from Rivian as a catalyst for the stock.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices rose more than 2% before the bell, a day after the chipmaker unveiled new artificial intelligence chips set to challenge Nvidia's dominance at an investor event.

Both Meta Platforms and Microsoft have already said they plan to use its chip, known as the Instinct MI300X. The product is set to directly challenge Nvidia's AI graphics processing unit known as H100.

CEO Lisa Su forecasted that the AI accelerator market will grow 70% on an annual basis over the next four years to reach more than $400 billion. 

— Samantha Subin

Dollar General climbed nearly 3% before the bell on Thursday as investors parsed a better-than-expected financial report and the latest outlook update.

The budget retailer beat the consensus forecasts of analysts surveyed by FactSet on both lines in the third quarter. Dollar General also reaffirmed its guidance for full-year earnings, revenue growth and comparative sales, with the ranges on each measure largely in line with Wall Street expectations.

Despite the premarket bid, it has been a tough year for the stock. Shares have fallen more than 45% since 2023 began.

— Alex Harring

Pet care site Chewy was under pressure, losing 10% after the company posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.

Chewy lost 8 cents per share on revenue of $2.74 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of 6 cents per share on revenue of $2.75 billion. The company's fourth-quarter revenue guidance was also disappointing.

— Fred Imbert

China's exports climbed 0.5% year on year in November, reversing from a 6.4% fall in October and exceeding expectations of a 1.1% decline from a Reuters poll.

However, imports to the world's second largest economy dropped 0.6% compared to the same period a year ago, surprising forecasts of a 3.3% rise.

China's trade balance widened to $68.39 billion in November, higher than the $56.53 billion in October and surpassing estimates of $58 billion.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia's trade balance in October widened to AU$7.13 billion from 6.79 billion Australian dollars ($4.45 billion) the month before, but fell short of the AU$7.5 billion estimated by a Reuters poll of economists.

The country's statistics bureau revealed that exports rose 0.4% month-on-month, or AU$182 million, driven by metal ores and minerals.

On the other hand, imports fell 1.9%, or A$763 million, from the previous month, mainly due to declines in imports of industrial transport equipment.

— Lim Hui Jie

The current rally may be overdone, but markets may still pull off the best of both worlds in 2024 — slowing inflation while growing earnings, according to Barclays.

"FOMO has pushed up equities far and fast, and may face a reality check at some point, but we believe the path of least resistance remains to the upside," wrote analyst Emmanuel Cau in a Wednesday note.

Cau clarified his belief that next year, central banks may successfully slow inflation without impairing growth too much. "This means some rates cuts are likely in '24, even as earnings remain resilient, which is a good set-up for further equity gains," he said.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Michael Bloom

Here are some of the stocks moving the most in extended hours trading:

• ChargePoint Holdings — Shares of the electric vehicle infrastructure company shed 1% after the company missed revenue expectations for the third quarter, posting $110 million in revenue while analysts expected $122 million, according to LSEG.
• Verint Systems — Shares of the customer engagement company popped nearly 10% on an earnings and revenue beat for the third quarter. Verint reported adjusted earnings of 65 cents per share, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected 57 cents per share. Revenue came out at $218.5 million, higher than the $215.9 million expected by analysts. The company also reaffirmed its full-year 2024 guidance.
• Chewy — The online pet products retailer declined 9.3% in after-hours trading Wednesday after Chewy issued a weak forecast for fourth quarter net sales. The company forecasts net sales of $2.78 billion to $2.8 billion, while analysts called for $2.93 billion, per LSEG. Chewy also posted a wider loss than expected and revenues fell short of estimates.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Pia Singh

U.S. stock futures opened little changed on Wednesday night.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shed 5 points, or 0.01%. S&P 500 futures were down by 0.02%, while futures tied to the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.03%.

— Pia Singh