By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch , Ryan Vlastelica

Walt Disney to buy 21st Century Fox in $52.4 billion deal

U.S. stocks rose modestly on Thursday, putting major indexes near record levels and the Dow on track for its sixth straight daily advance.

The technology sector was one of the biggest boosts to the day, offsetting weakness in defensive industries like telecom and utilities. Positive data also supported the market, as did additional clarity on global central-bank policy, while investors also digested the latest information on the tax-cut bill set to emerge out of Washington.

Need to know:'80s cheer for the end of year: Stocks that remind bulls of the Reagan--Volcker era (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/80s-cheer-for-end-of-year-stocks-that-remind-bulls-of-the-reagan-volcker-era-2017-12-14)

What are indexes doing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53 points, or 0.2%, to 24,637, briefly hitting an intraday all-time high at 24,672.48. The blue-chip average has risen for five straight sessions and closed at a record for the past four (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dows-4-day-win-streak-in-jeopardy-with-all-eyes-on-fed-and-alabama-election-result-2017-12-13).

The S&P 500 rose 2 points to 2,665, a gain of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12 points, or 0.2%, to 6,888.

The S&P is set for its fifth positive day of the past six while the Nasdaq is on pace for its sixth positive session of the past seven.

What's driving the markets?

Sales at U.S. retailers climbed 0.8% in November (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-retail-sales-jump-08-in-november-as-holiday-season-gets-to-good-start-2017-12-14), the start of the holiday shopping season. The increase was twice as large as the MarketWatch forecast. Separately, jobless claims fell 11,000 in the latest week, while U.S. import prices rose 0.7% in November.

The flash Markit manufacturing and services purchasing managers indexes was at 52.4 in December, compared with 54.5 in November. A reading of 50 or better indicates expansion.

Business inventories are set for October at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Details of the Republican tax deal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-whats-in-the-republican-tax-deal-2017-12-13) have started to trickle out, with the big elements including a corporate tax rate of 21% and top individual rate of 27%. The corporate rate is currently 35%.

Traders are likely to watch comments out of the ECB for a steer on the future unwinding of its stimulus measures. As widely expected, the ECB's announced no change to record-low interest rates.

Read MarketWatch's recap of ECB President Mario Draghi's news conference (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2017/12/14/watch-here-for-ecb-hints-to-the-unwinding-of-qe-live-blog/)

Separately, the Bank of England held key interest rates at 0.5%, as expected, in a 9-0 vote. The central bank raised rates for the first time in a decade in November.

The monetary policy updates come a day after the Fed lifted a key short-term U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25% to 1.5%, but in a sign of caution, stuck to its earlier forecast for just three 1/4-point rate increases in 2018. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-raises-interest-rates-and-makes-few-changes-to-outlook-ahead-of-transition-to-powell-2017-12-13)

What are strategists saying?

"There's so much money floating around the system, and so long as central banks keep that liquidity in place, which they're doing, I think the market will have room to run higher," said Luis Maizel, senior managing director at LM Capital Group, who speculated there was an additional upside of 8-10% in stocks.

"Retail sales were strong, and jobless claims were lower than expected, but we're not seeing good jobs get created, and there's no pressure on wages going up."

Read: 3 things to watch for at Thursday's ECB meeting (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-things-to-watch-for-at-thursdays-ecb-meeting-2017-12-13)

Which stocks are in focus?

Shares of 21st Century Fox Inc.(FOX) rose 0.1% after Walt Disney Co.(DIS) announced it would buy the media company in a deal valued at $52.4 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-to-buy-21st-century-fox-in-a-deal-valued-at-524-billion-2017-12-14). Shares of Disney rose 0.5%. The deal values each 21st Century share at $29.54 each, below Wednesday's closing price of $32.75.

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.(TEVA) surged 15% after announcing additional restructuring measures (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/teva-shares-jump-4-premarket-as-company-says-it-will-cut-14000-jobs-in-restructuring-2017-12-14), including the loss of 14,000 jobs in the next two years, and the immediate suspension of dividends and cancellation of 2017 bonuses.

Shares of Sanderson Farms Inc.(SAFM) dropped 5% after the poultry producer posted weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sanderson-farms-shares-slump-premarket-after-profit-miss-2017-12-14).

Valeant Pharmaceuticals(VRX.T) fell 4.8% after J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to underweight from neutral.

Tech shares were among the biggest boosts to the day. Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL), the parent company of Google, rose 0.6% while Apple Inc.(AAPL) was up 0.4%.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sanderson-farms-shares-slump-premarket-after-profit-miss-2017-12-14)What are other markets doing?

Climbing higher on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-climbs-after-fed-sticks-to-3-rate-hikes-next-year-2017-12-14), gold rose $11.50, or 0.9%, to $1,260.10 an ounce.

The dollar was mostly steady, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index trading flat at 93.462.

Crude-oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-rise-on-signs-of-falling-us-inventories-2017-12-13) pulled lower. In its closely watched monthly oil report, the International Energy Agency said U.S. shale producers pushed global oil supply to its highest level in a year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-shale-ramps-up-helps-drive-oil-supply-to-highest-in-a-year-says-iea-2017-12-14).

Bitcoin futures rose to $17,200 in their fourth full day of trading (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-futures-rev-up-again-push-past-17500-2017-12-14), while the spot price for the most active digital currency rose to $16,590.96.

Stocks in Europe traded lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-sag-with-ecbs-final-policy-meeting-of-the-year-on-deck-2017-12-14), while Asian markets finished mostly in the red (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stock-markets-under-pressure-as-financials-drop-on-fed-hike-2017-12-14) as financials fell on news of the Fed interest-rate hike.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2017 09:54 ET (14:54 GMT)

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