U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 0.4% on Thursday.The Dow traded up 0.39% to 42,493.51 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 19,468.70. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.38% to 5,894.42.Check This Out: Top 3 Consumer Stocks You May Want To Dump This QuarterLeading and Lagging SectorsUtilities shares rose by 1.1% on Thursday.In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.9%.Top HeadlineThe U.S. economy grew by an annualized rate of 3.1% in the third quarter com ...