How are stocks trading

• The S&P 500
  SPX,
  +1.54%
  rose 51 points, or 1.3%, to 3,834.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average
  DJIA,
  +1.01%
  added 269 points, or 0.8%, to 33,145.

• Nasdaq Composite
  COMP,
  +2.18%
  climbed 190 points, or 1.9%, to 10,403.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 366 points, or 1.1%, to 32876, the S&P 500 declined 46 points, or 1.2%, to 3783, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 140 points, or 1.35%, to 10,213, its lowest closing level of the year.

The S&P 500 is up more than 6% from its 2022 low hit in mid October, but the index remains down 20.1% for the year to date.

What’s driving markets

The penultimate session of 2022 was showing tentative signs of delivering some much needed festive cheer for the stock market as a hoped for “Santa Claus rally” has so far failed to materialize.

Stocks advanced after the open after data showed the number of Americans receiving more than a single week of unemployment benefits climbed by 41,000 last week to 1.71 million, the highest level in 10 months.

See: U.S. jobless claims move higher in latest week

The jobless-claims data “points to a loosening in the labor market, which is welcome news for the Fed,” said Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James, in a tweet.

Stocks are on track to finish off their worst year since 2008 not far from their lows of the year. The Nasdaq Composite will start Thursday near its lowest in 30 months, having lost 36.4% since its peak in November 2021.

“This year really needs to end, now!” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, who noted that the latest dip for stocks leaves the U.S. benchmark in a precarious technical position.

If stocks finish this week lower, it would mark the fourth straight weekly loss for the S&P 500, the longest such streak since May. For the Dow, which finished higher last week as it has outperformed this year, it would mark the third down week in four, according to FactSet data.

Companies in focus

• Tesla
  TSLA,
  +7.72%
  rallied Thursday after posting its first rise in eight sessions Wednesday. The electric-vehicle maker’s shares had declined in seven consecutive sessions, their worst losing streak since a seven-session run that ended on Sept. 15, 2018.

• Southwest Airlines 
  LUV,
  +3.08%
  remains in focus as the airline tries to recover logistical issues that caused thousands of flight cancellations over the past week. The stock fell 11% over the past two days.

• General Electric’s 
  GE,
  +0.65%
  spin-off of GE HealthCare Technologies will join the S&P 500 index when it begins trading as a separate public company on Jan. 4. GE HealthCare will replace Vornado Realty Trust 
  VNO,
  +2.13%,
  which will move to the S&P MidCap 400. Vornado will replace logistics company RXO
  RXO,
  +6.40%,
  which will move to the S&P SmallCap 600. GE HealthCare — trading on a when-issued basis — rose, while Vornado was marginally lower and RXO jumped.

• Cal-Maine 
  CALM,
  -10.52%
  slid after its quarterly earnings came in below Wall Street forecasts. Cal-Maine reported record sales for the quarter as an avian flu outbreak continued to limit the supply of eggs, driving prices sharply higher. The company also said there were no positive tests for avian flu at any of its production facilities, as of Wednesday.