NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose again early Thursday as investors digested a trove of mixed economic data ahead of a long holiday weekend.

Commerce Department data showed higher consumer spending in November, while posted the biggest increase in nearly four decades.

Jobless claims held steady from the prior week, while orders for big-ticket manufactured goods climbed.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare described the litany of data as "mostly good," but said "the bad inflation data should keep the Fed focused on gearing its monetary policy toward battling inflation as opposed to the slowdown effect of the Omicron variant."

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6 percent at 35,957.63.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent to 4,719.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index won 0.2 percent to 15,561.10.

All three major indices are up for the week. Markets will be closed Friday in observance of the Christmas Eve holiday.