Stocks rise on Wall Street, indexes head for weekly gains

Stocks rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Thursday, putting the major indexes on track for weekly gains and driving the S&P 500 toward another record high.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 2 p.m. Eastern and was hovering above the record it set on Dec. 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235 points, or 0.7%, to 35,990 and the Nasdaq rose 1%.

More than 80% of stocks within the benchmark S&P 500 gained ground, with technology, communication and industrial companies accounting for a big share of the gains. Only real estate stocks lagged. The index is on track for a 2.4% gain this week. U.S. markets will be closed Friday in observance of Christmas.

Cisco systems, which makes routers and other computer hardware, rose 1.2%. Chipmaker Micron Technology rose 5%.

Retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending gained ground. Tesla jumped 5.6% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. Target rose 1.5% and Domino's Pizza rose 2.6%.

Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.49% from 1.46% late Wednesday.

European markets were higher, and Asian markets closed higher overnight.

Investors received several economic updates on Thursday before heading into a holiday break for markets.

The Commerce Department reported that U.S. consumer prices rose 5.7% in November versus a year earlier, the fastest pace in 39 years, as a surge in inflation confronts Americans with the holiday shopping season under way. Businesses have been dealing with supply chain problems and higher raw materials costs, and in turn passing those costs off to consumers.

The higher prices have raised concern that consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, could soften and hurt economic growth. The latest report shows that spending rose 0.6%, well below the 1.4% surge in October.

The housing market remains strong, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of new single-family homes rose 12.4% in November, the fastest pace in seven months. Homebuilder shares were mostly higher following the report. PulteGroup rose 0.7%.

The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, remaining at a historically low level that reflects the job market’s strong recovery from the coronavirus recession last year.

The latest data on prices and jobs comes as investors continue gauging the potential impact from the latest surge in coronavirus cases because of the omicron variant. Governments in Asia and Europe have tightened travel controls or pushed back plans to relax curbs already in place.