US open: Stocks higher following PCE jobless claims data

Wall Street stocks were firmly in the green early on Thursday, putting major indices on track to extend their rally for a third straight session ahead of a slew of data points scheduled for later in the day.

As of 1535 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.60% at 35,969.69, while the S&P 500 was 0.54% firmer at 4,721.93 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.36% stronger at 15,577.46.

The Dow opened 215.80 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as market participants digested third-quarter GDP figures and continued to monitor Covid-19 headlines in the lead-up to the Christmas break.

Reopening plays like Wynn Resorts, Carnival and American Airlines were all higher early in the session as traders brushed off earlier fears regarding the Covid-19 omicron variant, while drugmaker Pfizer was also in the green after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 pill, the world's first antiviral drug aimed at the virus.

On the macro front, claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly in the seven days ended 18 December after having hit their lowest level since 1969 two weeks earlier. According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims totalled 205,000 last week, bank in line with estimates and the previous week's downwardly revised total. The four-week moving average, which levels out volatility in the numbers, came to 206,250, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average, the lowest level for the average since 14 March 2020, while continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, came to 1.85m, ahead of forecasts for a print of 1.82m but below the week before's revised reading of 1.86m.

Elsewhere, US consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in nearly 40 years in November amid surging inflation. Consumer prices increased 5.7%, up from 5.1% in October, according to figures released on Thursday by the Commerce Department, the fastest pace since 1982. Consumer spending rose 0.6% in November, coming in below October's 1.4% jump as people started their Christmas shopping earlier than usual this year. Meanwhile, personal incomes were up 0.4% compared with a 0.5% rise in October.

On another note, durable goods orders placed with US factories increased in November, up 2.5% month-on-month for the biggest rise in six months, exceeding forecasts and indicating that steady demand would likely help drive production growth early in 2022. The increase partly reflected a sharp rise in commercial aircraft orders. However, the value of core capital goods orders, which excludes aircraft and military hardware, fell 0.1% following an upwardly revised 0.9% print in October, according to the Commerce Department.

Still on data, new home sales jumped 12.4% in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 744,000, short of expectations for a reading of 770,000, according to the Census Bureau, following a downwardly revised print of 662,000 for October.

Lastly, the University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index improved in December, primarily due to significant gains among households with incomes in the bottom third of the distribution.

The Michigan sentiment index increased to 70.6 from 67.4 in November but was down from 80.7 in December 2020. The index of current economic conditions came in at 74.2 in December, up from 73.6 the month before but weaker than the 90.0 print registered in December last year, while the gauge for consumer expectations printed at 68.3 versus 63.5 in November and 74.6 in the same month a year ago.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Thursday.