Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks, bucking a trend of late-day selloffs, ended higher on Thursday as economic bellwether FedEx offered a bullish profit outlook that augured well for broad growth.

Stocks that performed well in 2010 were among Thursday's biggest gainers as investors sought to boost returns by the year's end. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by more than two to one on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 41.78 points, or 0.36 percent, at 11,499.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 7.64 points, or 0.62 percent, at 1,242.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 20.09 points, or 0.77 percent, at 2,637.31.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures prices settled lower on Thursday, amid signs of year-end position squaring and with concerns about the euro zone economy also helping to weigh on oil prices.

Position squaring could also have been prompted as the January crude contract's Monday expiration approaches. The ICE Brent January crude contract expired on Thursday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January crude fell 92 cents, or 1.04 percent, to $87.70 a barrel, trading from $87.63 to $88.65.

CBOT-CHICAGO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex closing trends on Thursday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - January down 7-1/2 cents at $12.89 per bushel. Disappointing export sales weigh on prices along with falling crude oil market.

CBOT-SOYOIL - January down 0.13 cent at 54.07 cents per lb. Weak soybeans, crude oil weigh.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell to one-week lows on Thursday on profit-taking due to lacklustre exports data, but supply concerns kept a lid on prices.

The benchmark March 2011 crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives dropped 0.9 percent to 3,583 ringgit ($1,141.992) per tonne, after touching the lowest since Dec. 8 of 3,569 ringgit. Overall traded volumes were 13,521lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly above the usual 10,000 level.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-COLOMBO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Thursday on concern over the global economy, with Indonesia and the Philippines hitting their lowest in more than two weeks after further foreign outflows.

Indonesia <.JKSE>, the region's best performer with a 41 percent rise this year, fell 2.4 percent, led by banks, its fifth straight drop taking it to its lowest close since Nov. 30.

It suffered foreign outflows of $119 million after $121 million in foreign selling the previous day, Reuters data showed. Bangkok saw foreign outflows of $19.7 million.

The Philippines <.PSI> closed 1.2 percent down, with $19 million of foreign money flowing out, and Malaysia <.KLSE> dropped 0.8 percent to its lowest since Dec. 1. Singapore Airlines , the world's second-biggest carrier by market value, fell 1.3 percent, a day after it released its load factor for November, which was lower than October's.