US Stocks Hold Steady, Travel Demand Fuels Airlines, Tesla Reaches 32-Month Highs: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

Wall Street experienced subdued trading on Thursday morning, with major indices remaining near the flatline as investors awaited further confirmation of potential interest rate cuts from the upcoming November jobs report.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 edged up by 0.1%, extending their record-high levels, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%. Small-cap stocks underperformed, with the Russell 2000 declining 0.8%.

Airline stocks emerged as a standout industry, buoyed by American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, which surged by a staggering 16% after the company raised its quarterly growth forecast on robust travel demand.

Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL gained 5%, while Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL climbed 4.3%. The broader sector, tracked by the U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS, advanced 4%, reaching levels unseen since June 2021.

Tesla Inc. TSLA added more than 3%, touching highs last seen in March 2022 after Bank of America raised its 12-month price target on the stock from $350 to $400, citing improving growth prospects.

The U.S. dollar softened by 0.4%, while Treasury yields held steady, with little movement across the curve.

Gold dropped 0.9%, while copper and silver retreated 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively, reflecting broader weakness in metals.

Bitcoin BTC/USD was up 2.4% to trade around $101,000. The leading cryptocurrency briefly touched $103,650 by 10:00 a.m. ET before retreating slightly amid high volatility.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
S&P 500	6,090.78	0.1%
Nasdaq 100	21,497.32	0.1%
Dow Jones	44,829.20	-0.4%
Russell 2000	2,407.36	-0.8%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY inched 0.1% up to $608.06.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA eased 0.3% to $449.43.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ inched 0.1% up to $523.76.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM fell 0.8% to $239.12.
• The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY outperformed, rising 1%; the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLB lagged, down 1.5%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Synopsys Inc. SNPS fell over 11% in reaction to the company’s latest earnings report.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings included SentinelOne Inc. S, down 10.3%, PVH Corp. PVH, down 0.7%, Five Below Inc. FIVE, up 12%, Kroeger Co. KR, up 1.3%, and Dollar General Corp. DG, down 3%.
• Companies slated to report their earnings after the close are DocuSign Inc. DOCU, Ulta Beauty Inc. ULTA, Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU, Veeva Systems Inc. VEEV, Samsara Inc. IOT, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE.

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