Stock market today: Dow ends higher as dip-buying fever returns to bruised tech

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Dow closed higher Thursday, as dip-buying fever in beaten-down tech and retreat in Treasury yields underpinned sentiment on stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1% or 345 points, the Nasdaq Composite was 2.6% higher, and the S&P 500 rose 1.8%.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), which is down about 64% year-to-date, rallied 4% followed by a nearly 3% move higher in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as the latter's recent plunge to its lowest level in 18 months attracted dip buyers.

As well as dip-buying momentum, tech was also supported by a fall in Treasury yields after data pointing to slowing labor market stoked hopes for a slowdown in wage growth and a less aggressive Federal Reserve.

The "labor market remains very tight," Jefferies said in a note, adding that "it will take a little while longer for the cracks to form" as claims are rising from near historic low levels.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), meanwhile, jumped 5% after CFRA upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'sell' and lifted its price target to $310 from $225, saying it would be difficult for competitors to catch up with streaming giant as its "one of the few profitable streaming providers with global scale."

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), up 8%, continued to claw back losses as some on Wall Street flagged several key milestones that the electric vehicle manufacturer's chief executive Elon Musk needs to achieve to lift sentiment on the stock.

Musk needs to "name a CEO of Twitter by the end of January; adopt a 10b5-1 plan so investors know there is no major selling block around the corner […]; and lay out conservative 2023 delivery and targets given the darker macro," Wedbush said in note laying out the "top 10 things Musk needs to do in 2023 to turn TSLA sentiment positive."

Energy rose more than 1% shrugging off weakness in oil prices following data showing that weekly U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly rose by 718,000 barrels last week. That confounded expectations for a draw of about 1.5 million.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR), ONEOK (NYSE:OKE), and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) were up more than 2%.

In other news, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) climbed 9% after McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) said it would roll out the Double McPlant across the UK from Jan. 4.