Stocks climbed higher on Thursday as December's strong rally resumed after taking a brief break in the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied over 300 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite rose roughly 1% and 1.3%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.03% or +48.40 points to 4,746.75

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.87% or +322.35 points to 37,404.35

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.26% or +185.92 points to 14,963.87

Making headlines on Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD  ) and Paramount (PARA  ) have reportedly entered merger talks, according to CNBC sources. While the discussions are reportedly preliminary, the potential deal would mark the second significant merger for for the entertainment/streaming industry in two years since Warner Bros. merged with Discovery.

In economic news, third-quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) came in lower-than-expected it the Bureau of Economic Analysis' third estimate on Thursday. The institution estimates that real GDP rose at an annual rate of 4.9% in the quarter quarter, down from the second estimate's increase of 5.2% and below consensus expectations. Real GDP rose 2.1% in the second quarter as the U.S. economy still works to recover from the impacts of persistent inflationary pressures.

On the earnings front, Micron Technology (MU  ) shares rose over 8% following its stronger-than-expected fiscal first quarter earnings report and rosy guidance for its fiscal second quarter, helped in part by the emerging artificial intelligence market.

"We expect our business fundamentals to improve throughout 2024, with record industry TAM projected for calendar 2025," CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a statement. "Our industry-leading High Bandwidth Memory for data center AI applications illustrates the strength of our technology and product roadmaps, and we are well positioned to capitalize on the immense opportunities artificial intelligence is fueling across end markets."

In single-stock news, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss upgraded Salesforce (CRM  ) shars to Overweight on Thursday, citing that the data cloud sector represents a "key foundational layer" for generative artificial intelligence applications and the software company stands to benefit. The firm also raised its price target on CRM, resperening a 34% upside from Wednesday's close.

"Salesforce remains one of the best secularly positioned names within Software, as the global incumbent for front-office applications and a platform squarely addressing many of enterprises' top digital transformation needs," Weiss wrote in a client note.

For Friday, market participants will react to November's personal consumption index reading and consumer sentiment readings for more data on the health of the U.S. consumer.