U.S. stocks market outlook december 23 2011

U.S. stocks market outlook december 23 2011 : U.S. stocks rose Thursday, aiming for a third-consecutive advance, on a batch of better-than-expected readings on the state of the domestic economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 63 points, or 0.5%, to 12171 Thursday afternoon, building on a 341-point advance post in the prior two sessions.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 11 points, or 0.9%, to 1254, and the Nasdaq Composite was 23 points higher, or 0.9%, at 2601.

Financial stocks were the strongest gainers. Many investors were packing up for the holidays. Trading volume was relatively light, at 2.2 billion shares in New York Stock Exchange composite volume by mid afternoon. The average for a full day this year is 4.3 billion shares.

Another healthier reading on the jobs market led the U.S. economic data. Initial jobless claims decreased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 364,000 in the week ended Dec. 17, according to the Labor Department, the third drop in a row and a better reading than the 14,000 rise in claims economists expected.

The decline carried claims to the lowest since the week ended April 19, 2008. Also helping stocks, the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators showed the seventh-straight monthly advance for November, and U.S. consumer attitudes were somewhat brighter at the end of December compared with earlier this month, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index showed.

The data points served to overshadow the Commerce Department's downward revision of the estimate of third-quarter U.S. economic growth, to an annualized 1.8%, below economists' forecast of 2%. Technology bellwether Oracle, which led a selloff in tech stocks Wednesday, lost another 0.3%.

The stock had dropped 12% in the previous session after delivering a rare earnings miss for the quarter ending in November, suggesting business-software customers had slowed down orders. Akamai Technologies was the strongest stock in the S&P 500 on a percentage basis, gaining 19%.The company agreed to acquire Cotendo, a maker of mobile-network acceleration software, for about $268 million in cash.

Micron Technology was another top S&P 500 performer, rising 17%. The memory-chip maker reported a wider-than-expected fiscal first quarter loss, but its margins remained flat despite a weak pricing environment. Mead Johnson Nutrition was one of the S&P 500's weakest stocks, falling 12%. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Wal-Mart Stores pulled a batch of the company's baby formula from more than 3,000 stores after a Missouri infant fed the formula died. Wal-Mart edged down 0.4%. For the latest updates on the stock market, visit Stock Market Today For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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