Dow carves out intraday record early Thursday as stocks extend gains in December's final week

U.S. stocks rose Thursday morning, with the S&P 500 and the Dow aiming to extend their march toward fresh records to cap 2021, with investor buying driven at least partly by the belief that an omicron-fueled spread of COVID won’t do lasting damage to the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.25% rose 175 points, or 0.5%, to reach 36,662, after establishing an intraday record at 36,664.26 near the open. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.30% climbed 0.3% to 4,806, not far from its intraday record, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.16% advanced a modest 0.2% to reach 15,789. U.S. Labor Department data on Thursday show that 198,000 applied for unemployment benefits during the week ended Dec. 25, leaving new jobless claims around a 52-year low amid the spread of omicron.