SummarySummary Companies Weekly jobless claims rise in line with estimatesSalesforce slips on downgradeIndexes up: Dow 0.72%, S&P 0.82%, Nasdaq 1.19%Dec 8 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 gained ground on Thursday, lifted by technology and energy shares, while a rise in weekly jobless claims suggested the labor market was slowing down.
"More people are filing jobless claims, which shows labor forces are weakening a little bit," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by 1.5% gain in technology stocks (.SPLRCT).
Most mega-cap technology and growth stocks such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) rose between 1.4% and 4.2%.
The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 53 new highs and 132 new lows.