Stocks were slightly higher in afternoon trading Thursday as the market looks to add to its gains from earlier in the week.

Since the start of 2024, the S&P 500 has never once closed below its 200-day moving average, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Barring a sharp selloff between now and the end of the year, this would be only the 12th time since 1952 that this has happened.

Some of the biggest winners were mega-cap tech stocks, with Tesla up by 6% while Broadcom, Netflix, and Amazon each gained about 2%.

Wall Street's main indexes drifted lower in light trading volumes on Thursday, as rising yields pressured some shares, while investors looked for a year-end boost from the so-called Santa Claus rally.

U.S. markets are broadly lower before the opening bell in what's expected to be thin holiday trading. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4% in the early hours Thursday.