Investing.com - The Dow closed just higher Thursday as a tech-led rally underpinned by Alphabet and AMD offset losses in energy stocks ahead of the monthly jobs report due Friday.
By 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the benchmark S&P 500 had climbed 0.80%, the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average had moved up by 0.2%, or 18 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had risen by 1.4%.
Alphabet leads tech higher as unveiling AI prowess; AMD's AI-chip in focus
Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose more than 5% a day after the company unveiled its latest AI model Gemini. The new multi-model AI system, which understands audio, photos and video, comes as tech giant looks to take the fight to rivals OpenAI, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta (NASDAQ:META).
Chip stocks also supported the broader tech sector, racking up a nearly 3% gain, underpinned by a surge in Advanced Micro Devices.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose more than 9% after launching its new AI chip MI300X as the chipmaker takes the fight to Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
AMD's management sees"MI300X performance surpassing NVDA H100 for AI workloads," Oppenheimer said in a note.,
C3.ai, Chewy slump on guidance; GameStop unveils plan to buy stocks
Retail investor-favorite C3.ai (NYSE:AI) slumped nearly 11% after the AI application software group guided for a full-year adjusted operating loss of $115 million to $135 million, deeper than its prior forecast of $70 million-$100 million.
Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) shares fell nearly 1% after the online pet-care retailer trimmed its annual sales outlook due to inflationary pressures that have dented customer demand.
GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares were 10% higher after approving a plan to amend its investment policy, allowing the video game retailer to invest in equity securities. The news overshadowed quarterly results that missed on the top line.
Labor market data in focus ahead of nonfarm payrolls
Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans who filed for first-time unemployment aid came in at seasonally-adjusted 220,000 last week, marking a slight uptick from 219,000 for the week ended on Nov. 25. Economists had expected a reading of 222,000.
The latest figures added to string of recent data pointing to soft labor market, though the nonfarm payrolls report for November will take center stage.
Economists expect that the economy created 180,000 new jobs last month, with the unemployment rate likely steady at 3.9%. Average hourly earnings, however, are expected to have increased by 0.1%.
Scott Kanowsky and Oliver Gray contributed to this report.
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