U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

An increase in personal income for November and a drop in unemployment claims sent stocks in the positive, despite mixed earnings in the technology sector and insignificant growth in consumer spending. Yet, the gains are only modest with each of the three major averages posting an advance of 0.2%.

Micron Technology Inc. released disappointing earnings, threatening to pressure technology stocks.

In economic news, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that personal income in November rose at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 0.3%, down from October's revised growth rate of 0.5%. Personal spending also climbed 0.3%, following a 0.2% increase in the previous month. The Commerce Department also stated that the price index for personal consumption expenditures, excluding food and energy, ticked up by 0.1% in November.

In a separate report, the U.S. Labor Department revealed that initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 318,000 for the week ended December 17 versus expectations of a more modest dip to 325,000.

The gold sector started recovering from recent losses to rise by 1.4%. The HMO sector was also strong, rising by about 1.2%. Energy, semiconductor, disk drive and biotech stocks also posted gains.

The airline sector edged lower in the early going, giving back much of Wednesday's advance. Retail stocks showed weakness.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 29.85, or 0.28%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.53, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 5.57, or 0.25%.

Bonds moved higher after two previous down sessions, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.45% from 4.49% late Wednesday.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended December 17 on Thursday, showing a bigger than expected decline.

The report showed that jobless claims fell to 318,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 331,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to fall to 325,000 from the 329,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The Labor Dept. also said that the less volatile 4-week moving average fell to 324,500 from the previous week''s revised average of 329,250.

Additionally, the report showed that continuing claims rose to 2.638 million in the week ended December 10 from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.597 million.

Thursday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on personal income and spending in the month of November, showing that income rose in line with expectations while spending growth came in slightly below estimates.

The report showed that personal income increased by 0.3 in November after rising 0.5 percent in October. The increase in personal income came in line with economist estimates.

The Commerce Dept. said that personal spending also rose 0.3 percent in November following a 0.2 percent increase in October. The growth came in slightly below economist estimates of an increase of 0.4 percent.

The report also showed that the price index for personal consumption expenditures fell 0.4 percent in November following an increase of 0.1 percent increase in October. Excluding food and energy prices, the index rose 0.1 percent for the second straight month.

EARNINGS NEWS

Micron Technology Inc, (MU: chart), semiconductor company, reported its Q1 profit dropped to 9 cents a share, down from 23 cents a share a year ago despite revenue growth, missing analysts’ estimate of 11 cents a share.