U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors grow more confident in a December interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 96 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%.
Meta Platforms shares popped about 6% higher on Thursday after Bloomberg reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was looking to make significant cuts to the company’s metaverse resources.
Investors focused on a report from job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing announced job cuts in November from U.S. employers moved further ahead of 1 million for the year as corporate restructuring, artificial intelligence and tariffs helped pare job rolls. On Wednesday, numbers from ADP revealed a surprising slump in private payrolls.
Mounting signs that the labor market is softening has led Wall Street to be convinced the Fed will cut rates a quarter percentage point at its Dec. 10 meeting, the last of the year. Markets are pricing in an 89% chance of a cut next Wednesday, far higher than just a couple weeks ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
On Thursday, investors largely overlooked the latest weekly jobless claims numbers that showed new applications for unemployment insurance at their lowest level since Sept. 2022. Jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 29 totaled a seasonally adjusted 191,000, down 27,000 from the prior period and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 220,000.
