LIVE MARKETS-Stemming the slide
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STEMMING THE SLIDE
U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday, with the Dow .DJI and S&P 500 .SPX putting to bed four-session streaks of declines, as a 10% jump in Micron Tech MU.O after the chipmaker's quarterly earnings and outlook helped alleviate recent concerns around AI-names and boosted the tech sector.
While tech .SPLRCT jumped 1.4%, the consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD was the best-performing group on the session with a 1.8% gain. Lululemon LULU.O shares gained 3.5% after reports that activist investor Elliott Management has amassed a stake of more than $1 billion in the apparel maker and is lining up a potential CEO candidate. Darden Restaurants DRI.N also buoyed the sector as the Olive Garden operator raised its annual sales forecast.
A fall in Treasury yields also provided support to equities after economic data showed annual inflation was cooler than anticipated. A separate report on the labor market showed initial jobless claims dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 224,000, just below the 225,000 estimate.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.65-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
Below is your closing market snapshot:
(Chuck Mikolajczak)
EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:
NIKE, FEDEX RINGING IN THE NEW US EARNINGS SEASON CLICK HERE
AI BUBBLE, BUBBLE EVERYWHERE, WELL, MAYBE, MAYBE NOT CLICK HERE
HAVE YOURSELF A DUAL MANDATE CHRISTMAS: CPI, JOBLESS CLAIMS, PHILLY FED CLICK HERE
US STOCKS RALLY AFTER INFLATION, JOBS DATA CLICK HERE
US STOCK FUTURES ADD TO GAINS AFTER LATEST INFLATION NUMBERS CLICK HERE
UBS USING AI TO TRACK CENBANK POLICYMAKERS' TONE CLICK HERE
MORGAN STANLEY SEES 22% UPSIDE FOR EUROPEAN BANKS NEXT YEAR CLICK HERE
STOXX FLAT, 'HOPE AND WARINESS' AROUND BP CLICK HERE
BEFORE THE BELL: MICRON SOOTHES TECH NERVES, EUROPE MIXED CLICK HERE
BOE TO MAKE THE CUT AS OTHERS STAY THE COURSE CLICK HERE
Closing levels Dec 18 
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