US STOCKS-Wall Street higher as tech stocks advance

By Reuters / January 01, 1970 / in.investing.com / Article Link

* S&P 500 on track for best annual gains since 2013

* Live Ventures soars after reporting revenue jump

* J.B. Hunt Transport down on disappointing forecast

* Indexes up: Dow 0.21 pct, S&P 0.11 pct, Nasdaq 0.19 pct (Updates to open)

By Sruthi Shankar

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose in thin holiday trading on Thursday, helped by gains in technology stocks.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) APPL.O was the biggest driver of the three indexes, with the high-flying FANG stocks - Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Alphabet - also contributing to the rise.

Gains in commodity prices, lower U.S. bond yields and a weaker dollar propelled world stocks to new record highs on Thursday.

The dollar slipped to a four-week low against a basket of currencies, under pressure from a recent dip in U.S. 10-year bond yields. USD/ A weaker dollar tends to boost revenue of companies with large global presence.

Oil prices held near their highest in two-and-a-half years, while copper futures CMCU3 traded at four-year highs. O/R

The benchmark S&P 500 has climbed about 20 percent this year, on track to record its best annual gains since 2013, boosted by robust economic growth and solid corporate earnings.

A new tax law in the United States that lowers tax burden on corporates is also expected to fuel the rally in 2018.

"The strength of the market has been encouraging this year," said Neil Massa, senior equity trader at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.

"The trend has been higher all year and a lot of people have been waiting for a pullback to get into the market, but they never really had that opportunity, and that's surprising."

At 9:33 a.m. ET (1433 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 53.08 points, or 0.21 percent, at 24,827.38 and the S&P 500 .SPX was up 3.04 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,685.66. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 13.40 points, or 0.19 percent, at 6,952.74.

Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with the technology index's .SPLRCT 0.31 percent rise topping the list.

Bitcoin, which has gained more than 14,000 percent this year, fell more than 7 percent to trade at $14,237 BTC=BTSP on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

Live Ventures LIVE.O , owner of internet marketing firm LiveDeal , surged more than 80 percent after reporting a jump in annual revenue. Hunt Transport JBHT.O fell about 3 percent after the logistic services provider forecast current-quarter profit below estimates. issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,619 to 844. On the Nasdaq, 1,400 issues rose and 847 fell.

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