Stocks closed higher on Wall Street but remain lower for the week after five straight losses. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% Thursday and finished at 3,963.51 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.1% to close at 11,082.00, per CNBC. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, or 183.56 points, to 33,781.48. US crude oil prices settled lower, marking their lowest point of the year, the AP reports. Activision Blizzard fell 1.5% after the Federal Trade Commission said it is suing to block Microsoft's planned $69 billion takeover of the video game company, saying it could suppress competitors to its Xbox game consoles.
Technology and health care companies had some of the biggest gains, including chipmaker Nvidia and Pfizer. Energy stocks lost the most ground, driven by the crude drop. On Thursday, the US reported slightly more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but not as many as economists had forecast. "We're back to bad news being good news," one analyst said. The labor market remains one of the strongest pockets of the economy, which has been stifled under the weight of inflation and rising interest rates. Low unemployment is good for the broader economy but makes it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to tame inflation. Wall Street will get more insight into how consumers feel about inflation and the economy on Friday when the University of Michigan releases its consumer sentiment survey for December. Investors will also get an update on how inflation is impacting businesses when the government releases its latest monthly report on wholesale prices Friday.
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