U.S. stocks edged higher Thursday morning after the S&P 500 and Dow each extended a rally to close at all-time highs amid a thinly-traded last week of 2021 on Wall Street.
The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all looked to build on earlier gains.
Economic and earnings calendars remain light for the final two trading days of the year, though investors turned their attention Thursday morning to fresh data out of Washington on weekly jobless claims.
The Labor Department released its latest report on initial and continuing jobless claims. First-time unemployment filings fell further from last week’s reading, coming in at 198,000 — below the expected 206,000. Earlier in December, jobless claims fell to 188,000 — its lowest level since 1969.
In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Samsung BioLogics denied earlier reports that Samsung Group was in talks to acquire U.S. drugmaker Biogen Inc. (BIIB), which was in the spotlight on Wednesday after shares of the drugmaker surged during intraday trading following a report by the Korea Economic Daily, which cited investment banking sources. The report said Biogen approached Samsung to buy its shares in a deal that could be valued at more than $42 billion.
Biogen’s stock closed up 9.46% to $258.31 per share.
Despite a good week for markets, airline stocks continued to falter amid further flight disruptions caused by rising COVID-19 cases and winter weather. Delta Air Lines (DAL) reported cancellations of an additional 250 flights on Wednesday after thousands of halted and delayed flights by major airlines reported during the Christmas weekend.
Delta ended Wednesday’s trading session -1.19% down to $39.16 and American Airlines (AAL) closed down 2.64% to $18.05 per share. United Airlines (UAL) saw the session end 1.86% lower at $44.3,
“It’s a controlled meltdown, put it that way,” Boyd Group International president Mike Boyd told Yahoo Finance. Airlines “know where they’re going to be short pretty much ahead of time, and then they have to adjust for it.”
Markets continue to weight rising COVID-19 case, which hit a global record earlier this week. Infections from the highly-transmissible Omicron variant — found to spread 70 times faster than previous strains — comprised much of the newly tracked positive tests, though studies indicate illness caused by the strain is less likely to be severe or lead to hospitalizations.
December was a volatile month for investors who weighed the strain’s impact on the economy, but recent developments that indicate Omicron may cause milder disease helped markets shake off earlier concerns.
“Perversely, bad news around Omicron might be good news for the markets because it gives the Fed the impetus to continue with these very loose monetary policies,” Opimas LLC Chief Executive Officer Octavio Marenzi told Yahoo Finance Live. “Too much good news for the real economy might actually be quite bad for the markets.”
9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks charge ahead to extend gains
Here were the main moves in markets at open:
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S&P 500 (^GSPC): +5.93 (+0.12%) to 4,798.99
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Dow (^DJI): +103.36 (+0.28%) to 36,591.99
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Nasdaq (^IXIC): -8.96 (-0.06%) to 15,757.26
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Crude (CL=F): +$0.23 (+0.30%) to $76.79 a barrel
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Gold (GC=F): -$2.50 (-0.14%) to $1,803.30 per ounce
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10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.6 bps to yield 1.5270%
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8:50 a.m. ET: Tesla issues recalls on Model 3 and Model S cars
Tesla Inc (TSLA) has recalled more than 475,000 Model 3 and Model S electric cars, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The recall was attributed to two safety-related concerns, including trunk issues with the vehicles and for Model 3s, rearview cameras mounted on these units that might malfunction.
Shares of Tesla fell as much as 2.2% during Wednesday trading after CEO Elon Musk sold another $1 billion of company stock.
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8:30 a.m. ET: Jobless claims hover near pre-pandemic lows
The Labor Department released its latest report on initial and continuing jobless claims. First-time unemployment filings fell further from last week’s reading, coming in at 198,000 — below the expected 206,000. Earlier in December, jobless claims fell to — 188,000 its lowest level since 1969.
Continuing claims for the week ended Dec. 18 came in at 1.716 million, also beating expectations of 1.875 million and below the prior week.
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7:10a.m. ET: Futures remain muted ahead of trading day
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +8.50 points (+0.15%), to 4,793.00
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Dow futures (YM=F): +50.00 (+0.14%), to 36,431.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +0.39 points (+0.24%) to 16,529
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6:01 p.m. Wednesday ET: Contracts on the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq open sideways
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +0.50 points (+0.01%), to 4,785.00
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Dow futures (YM=F): +3.00 (+0.01%), to 36,384.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): -0.25 points (0.00%) to 16,490.25
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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