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WALL STREET LOOKS FOR THE BULL

Wall Street moved higher early Thursday, the penultimate trading day of 2023, after jobless claims data appeared to show some Fed-pleasing signs of slack in the labor market.

All three indexes were modestly higher in the session's first minutes.

The S&P 500 waltzes ever closer to the record closing high it reached on Jan. 3, 2022.

Should it end above that level - 4,796.56, to be exact - it will confirm that the benchmark index entered a bull market in October 2022, when it touched the bear market's closing trough.

The jobless claims USJOB=ECI print increased 5.8% to 218,000, higher than expected.

The Fed Chief Jerome Powell has stated that it needs to see some slackening in labor market conditions - prerequisite to winning the war on inflation, he believes - before the central bank considers easing its restrictive policy.

Falling interest rates and the promise of sooner-rather-than-later Fed rate cuts have powered much of the rally over the last two months.

November pending home sales data, considered a fairly forward-looking housing market indicator, is expected shortly.

Here's were things stood at 09:46 EST:

(Stephen Culp)

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FOR THURSDAY'S OTHER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

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S&P 500 REPORT CARD: CAN THE INDEX END THE YEAR ON A HIGH? CLICK HERE

SHARE BUYBACKS "SENSIBLE" USE OF SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS - TEMPLE BAR CLICK HERE

TEN FACTS ABOUT THE YEAR THAT WAS CLICK HERE

BASIC RESOURCES, HEALTHCARE BOOST STOXX CLICK HERE

FESTIVE CHEER CONTINUES IN EUROPE CLICK HERE