The market began the session quietly, as it has each day this week, and once again the buyers emerged toward the latter part of the morning and pushed the major averages to new all-time highs. Today's move lost some steam in the afternoon, though it was broad-based, with each of the averages closing at record levels.

Economic news 

In the U.S., initial jobless claims fell 10,000 to 258,000 in the week ended December 3, after climbing 17,000 to 268,000 last week.

In Europe, the European Central Bank announced a continuation of its asset-buying program, although a reduced pace of purchases is set to start from April next year. The current monthly pace of EUR 80B will continue until the end of March 2017, after which the net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of EUR 60B until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary. Benchmark interest rates were left unchanged, as expected.

In Asia, Japan cut its reading of third quarter economic growth to an annualized 1.3%, from a preliminary estimate of 2.2%. Chinese trade data for November showed that exports rose 0.1%, versus expectations for them to be down 5%, while imports rose 6.7%, versus expectations for them to be down 1.9%.

Company news 

Shares of Express Scripts (ESRX) moved lower, finishing the day down nearly 7%, after Andrew Left's Citron Research posted cautious comments comparing the pharmacy benefit manager to Philidor, the specialty pharmacy at the center a scandal involving Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX). CVS Health (CVS) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), which are also involved in pharmacy benefit management, both moved lower following Citron's tweets as well. Contacted by The Fly to comment on Citron's tweets, Express Scripts said it is "nothing like Philidor," adding that "one of the most important factors in lowering drug costs in this country is ensuring that drug manufacturers' power to raise prices is appropriately checked by the market, which is precisely the role PBMs play".

Shares of lululemon (LULU) jumped 15% after the yoga and leisure apparel retailer reported quarterly results that beat expectations, helped by higher than expected gross margins and sales.

Meanwhile, Sears Holdings (SHLD) posted its fifth straight quarterly loss and said it will continue to close its less lucrative stores in order to help restore profitability to the company. However, an executive noted that he "cannot guarantee" when profitability will occur. Sears stock, which was lower in early trading, ended the day about 5% higher.

Major movers 

Among the notable gainers was Tailored Brands (TLRD), which leaped almost 40% after the owner of the Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank brands reported better than expected results for the quarter. Also higher was Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which gained 8% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Arya upgraded the stock two notches to Buy from Underperform, saying that PC gaming and artificial intelligence/deep learning Industries are still in the early stages and the company is a vendor that can challenge incumbents Intel (INTC) and NVIDIA (NVDA) for market share.

Additionally, Time Inc. (TIME) rose about 7.75% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has hired Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) to help field acquisition or partnership interest after it received overtures from a group of media investors.

Among the noteworthy losers was Horizon Pharma (HZNP), which dropped 22.5% after the company announced that the Phase 3 STEADFAST trial evaluating Actimmune for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia did not meet its primary endpoint.

Also lower were casino operators MGM Resorts (MGM), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Melco Crown (MPEL), which fell by 4% to as much as almost 14% after a media report emerged saying that China's government is cutting the daily ATM withdrawal limit in the gambling center of Macau to fight corruption and stem currency outflows from the mainland. The policy change is understood to be in reaction to attempts by illicit money movers to circumvent Beijing's annual cap on UnionPay card holder withdrawals, according to The South China Morning Post.

Indexes 

The Dow rose 65.19, or 0.33%, to 19,614.81, the Nasdaq gained 23.59, or 0.44%, to 5,417.36, and the S&P 500 advanced 4.84, or 0.22%, to 2,246.19.