US Stocks Bounce; Chipmakers, Cruise Lines Lead, Dollar Falls: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

On Thursday, Wall Street rebounded into positive territory, following a brief dip experienced on Wednesday. At midday trading New York time, all major stock indices were trading in the green as traders prepared for the final trading week of the year.

The S&P 500 made a modest 0.3% gain, but its equal-weighted counterpart, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF RSP, outperformed with a 0.5% increase. The Dow also edged up by 0.3%.

Tech stocks within the Nasdaq 100 surged by 0.5%, while small-cap stocks continued to outperform, with the Russell 2000 gaining 1%.

Long-term bond yields saw a slight increase, with the popular iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT declining by 0.6%.

The U.S. dollar, as monitored through the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF UUP, fell by 0.4%, revisiting its yearly lows, in response to weaker-than-expected economic data. The U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter, down from the previous estimate of a 5.2% increase.

Gold, tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, saw a 0.5% surge, while silver gained 0.8% in reaction to the weakening dollar. Bitcoin BTC/USD remained stable.

Thursday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs

Index	Price	Percentage Change (%)
Russell 2000	2,000.71	1.0%
Nasdaq 100	16,637.75	0.5%
S&P 500	4,715.85	0.3%
Dow Jones	37,197.33	0.3%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.4% higher to $469.90, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA was 0.3% higher to $372.01 and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ inched up 0.6% to $405.34, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Sector-wise, discretionary outperformed, with the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY up 0.8%. On the negative side, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLB and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU were both 0.3% lower.

Among industries, solar and semiconductors were notable gainers, with the Invesco Solar ETF TAN and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF SMH up 3.9% and 2%, respectively. REITs lagged, with the Vanguard Real Estate VNQ down 1%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Carnival Corp. CCL rose 6.4%, as the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue in the last quarter.
• Shares of other cruise companies also experienced a surge. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL shares climbed almost 4%, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH saw a 5% increase.
• Micron Technology Inc. MU rose over 7% after posting better-than-expected results last quarter. In response, other chipmakers also gained. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD rose over 2.5%, while Nvidia Corp. NVDA inched up 1%.
• MP Materials Corp. MP rocketed 9%, topping the Russell 1000’s gainers.
• Paychex Inc. PAYX tumbled over 6% after missing earnings estimate.
• Warner Bros Discovery Inc. WBD and Paramount Global PARA fell 4% and 3.4%, respectively, after Ben Barringer, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, stated the merger between these two companies will likely worsen their financial profile.

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